When Worlds Collide
by ShadowOfTheNight101
Summary: OOC characters! What happens when your beaten by your dad or when your married to someone you don't love? Hermione and Draco are Head boy and girl. Will they come together as friends or will a marriage drive them apart?
1. Confessions Of A Broken Heart

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**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 1- Confessions Of A Broken Heart_

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_Daughter to father, daughter to father  
I am broken but I am hoping  
Daughter to father, daughter to father  
I am crying, a part of me is dying and  
These are, these are  
The confessions of a broken heart  
And I wear all your old clothes, your polo sweater  
I dream of another you  
The one who would never (never)  
Leave me alone to pick up the pieces  
A daddy to hold me, that's what I needed,  
-Lindsay Lohan_

Hermione looked out her window. The sky was blue with birds in the air. The forest around her land was beautiful. Animals were going about their business and taking care of their families. She looked back into her room, the walls were painted a warm yellow. Her bed had a green and yellow floral comforter. The sheets were yellow and the pillows were green and yellow. On her walls were posters of her favorite bands and animals. She had a desk in the corner, which held her computer and C.D.'s. Above her desk were a few shelves, which held books, her boom box, and a few pictures of her friends and family. She looked at each picture in turn.

The first was of her and her friends Harry and Ron. The second was of her mother and her mother's new boyfriend Fernando. The third was of her when she was six. The next three were pictures of her at different ages. The seventh was of her father. Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked at her father's picture.

It felt like it was only yesterday that it happened. It had been two months since she had finally taken her things and left. She had packed up as much as she could, while her father was out, before sneaking out the window and running away. She had called her mother. While she had stayed in a room in Diagon Alley, she waited for her mother to call. It was a week later that her mother called and came to pick her up.

When her mother noticed the scars, she took her daughter to the hospital. They were able to heal most wounds, but the one on her shoulder couldn't be healed for some reason. So, Hermione had to wait until Hogwarts to go to Madam Pomfrey.

Even looking at this picture of her father, brought back all the painful memories that happened all those months ago.

_Tears ran down her already tear-stained face. Every time she wiped them away, another batch would come pouring out. "What did I do to deserve this? Why did she have to leave? Does he hate me for it? Did I do something wrong?" All this ran through her mind. Her mother had left her and her father just a week after her sixth year. Her mother never explained it to her. Hermione had thought that her family was happy. Then two weeks after her mother left, her father began drinking. He would stay out late, some time coming home smelling of stale beer and cigarettes. She remembered once when he even came home with another woman. Hermione had locked herself in her room that night. _

_She dabbed the concealer over her bruised and cut up face." I wish I could use magic. But he took away all my stuff and locked it away" she thought. She continued putting on the concealer. The tube was almost empty. "I should pick some more up later", she said to herself, making a mental note. _

_She had almost finished covering her wounds when the front door slammed shut. She turned towards the hallway with a look of horror on her face. _

_It's almost eleven. That means that he's even drunker than usual. That meant he would be even angrier which meant a worse beating for her. _

_She quickly ran down the hallway and rushed into the living room, where her father was sitting in a chair, smelling of cigarettes and alcohol. She quietly stepped over to her father. _

"_Hermione, get over here," he slurred. He sounded like he was ready to kill. _

"_Yes, father," Hermione said with a small stutter, her voice dripping with fear. _

"_Get me another beer, now," he said. _

_She took a deep breath. "Um, well, maybe you have…uh…had enough beer for the night. I mean…" she was cut off. Her father had smacked her across the face. He was now towering over her. _

"_DON'T YOU BACK TALK ME! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SIGHT! YOU DISPICABLE LITTLE SLUT!" he yelled at her. _

_She could hear glass shattering against a wall, as she ran from him. She could feel tears coming from her eyes. She ran back in to her room and flung herself on to her bed. She cried more and more. She finally looked up and grabbed a crème colored letter out of her desk drawer. Her mother had left her a letter before she left. She opened it up and read it again. It already had tear stains on it from previous nights. _

_Dear Hermione, _

_I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt you or your father. But I just couldn't take it anymore. Your father has had a drinking problem for quite some time. He would always yell and scream at me, if I did something wrong. During work, it felt like I was free for once. I met a man named Fernando Diego. We fell in love and I will be staying with him. I love you so much and I wish that I could have taken you with me, but I knew that if I did, your father would have killed me. Owl me if something goes wrong. I never want you to be upset. _

_Love,  
Your mother,  
Jane Granger_

She had been living with her mother and new boyfriend for a few months now. She did love her father, but he was just too hard to live with at the moment. In a few weeks, she would be going back to Hogwarts to see her friends and her teachers. She just hoped that things would get better when she was at Hogwarts. She would be with Harry and Ron and everything would be back to normal.

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A/N: Wow, that was exciting. Now to explain. Chapters one and two are follow ups. They just show what is going on in Draco and Hermione's life so far. And apparently, Hermione's life isn't going too well. Now we will see what happens in Draco's life in chapter two.

Quick thanks to Lindsay Lohan for her song Confessions of a Broken Heart.

SammieJ


	2. Bad Day

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**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 2- Bad Day_

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_Cause you had a bad day  
You're taking one down  
You sing a sad song just to turn it around  
You say you don't know  
You tell me don't lie  
You work at a smile and you go for a ride  
You had a bad day  
The camera don't lie  
You're coming back down and you really don't mind  
You had a bad day_

Draco made his way down the grand staircase toward the living room; walking in he saw his father and mother. His father, Lucius Malfoy was wearing a black suit and his hair was pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Draco was dressed similarly to his father, except his hair was just falling nicely into his eyes. His hair also wasn't as long as his fathers. His mother, Narcissa Malfoy, was wearing a simple black dress. Well, as simple as possible, if you're a Malfoy. The dress was black velvet and she had a diamond necklace in the shape of a snake around her neck. His mother smiled at him when he entered the room. His father sneered at him and poked his son in the back toward the fireplace with his cane.

"Draco, you first son," Lucius said with an icy stare. His father only knew an icy stare, a cold voice, and a smirk. Did this man even know the meaning of the word compassion? Or family for that matter?

Draco nodded. He took a handful of floo powder. He made his way over to the fire place and threw the powder in to the flames. They instantly turned emerald and he stepped in to them. He turned around and shouted clearly 'Parkinson Estate'. The next thing he knew he was spinning very fast and soon found himself in the living room of the Parkinson's house.

He waited for his parents and they arrived just a few seconds later. They brushed the ash from their clothes and made their way into the ballroom. The place was decorated with silver and emeralds. Draco rolled his eyes. Typical Slytherin. It wasn't that he minded his house colors, but that he was so sick of how they were everywhere. He walked in and looked around for his friend Blaise Zabini. He spotted Blaise over by a fountain that had champagne flowing from the spigots. Draco walked over to him and accepted a glass of champagne.

"Thanks Blaise. So how has your summer been?" Draco asked, trying to make small talk.

"It's been okay. I spent some time in Aspen with Antoinette, the rest with my family. Basically, it was a bit boring," Blaise said with a shrug.

"You're saying that Antoinette is boring?" he asked, eyeing his friend as if he was crazy.

"No. Annie, she's amazing. We skied all day and made love all night. She is actually coming tonight. Oh! Also, she knows English now," he said with a smile. Antoinette Maryland had transferred from Beauxbatons wizardry school in France, in her fourth year, and she was also in Slytherin. Although, she was friends with a few girls from the other houses and worst of all, that mud-blood Hermione Granger and her friend Heather Owens.

Draco nodded. "That's cool. How long did it take you to teach her English?" he asked.

"Not long. She had been taking English courses over the summer anyway," Blaise said.

The double doors opened and a group of girls appeared. One clearly stood out from the rest. She had long, wavy black hair. She was wearing a golden dress. Draco nudged Blaise in the ribs and pointed toward the girl. Blaise looked around.

I looked over toward the doors and saw Antoinette. Well, Annie because she hates Antoinette. She was wearing a gold colored dress. It had a way too deep v-neckline. There was a sweeping ruffle that went across the front of the dress. At the bottom of the neckline, there was a spectacular chandelier brooch, the crystals looked Swarovski. She looked absolutely sexy. Even though, she was my girlfriend, I didn't like it when she dressed so seductively. Another guy could take her from me. I also hate it when I see guys drooling over her. She noticed us and was making her way over.

Annie made her way over to Blaise and Draco. She walked with a bit of a strut, swaying her hips. She wanted Blaise to go nuts and be all protective. It always made her laugh when he did.

"Hello, boys. It is a little warm in here isn't it. I should have worn a different dress," she said with a smile. Blaise knew her definition of different, by which she meant "shorter", and it always made him mad.

"No! That dress is seductive enough. Anything less and I would have to punch the next guy that comes over to you. Here," he said. He took off his jacket and put it around her and made sure that the front couldn't be seen.

Annie rolled her eyes. "Blaise, you know that I only love you," she said and put her hand on the side of his face and brought him down for a kiss. She pulled away and lightly licked her lips.

Blaise swallowed and nodded. He was like a sick puppy he was so in love with her. He always obeyed her. Sometimes he got teased for it, but he didn't care. He just said that they were jealous that they didn't have a girl like Annie.

"So, any clue about what tonight is about?" Draco asked Annie.

Annie shook her head. A bell rang out and they all turned toward the grand staircase. On the balcony stood Pansy. She had changed a bit over summer. She grew her hair out and it was pulled back into a bun on the back of her head and she had a few strands of hair in front that were brushed to one side. She was wearing a beautiful pink dress. It was off the shoulders, with long sleeves, sweeping train, and in the back was a triangle opening at the back. She also had a few curves now, her hips had widened and her chest had grown. She walked down the staircase and said hello to everyone before coming over to Draco, Blaise and Annie.

"Hey. How have you all been?" Pansy asked.

"Fine," they said together.

Another bell rang and they all exited into the dining hall for dinner. Blaise and Draco pulled the chairs out for Pansy and Annie and then took their own seats. The dinner was amazing and the dessert was fabulous. After the meal, Mr. Parkinson and Draco's father stood up and clicked their glasses until they received everyone's attention.

"Excuse me everyone. Mr. Malfoy and I would like to make an announcement," Mr. Parkinson said with a joyous smile.

"We would like to announce the engagement of my son, Draco and young Miss Pansy," Mr. Malfoy said.

Everyone applauded the teenagers. Pansy looked over at Draco in shock. Apparently, she had not even known that her parents were planning an engagement. Draco stared at his father and then looked over at Pansy. She looked completely speechless. But Draco wasn't.

"WHAT!" Draco exclaimed.

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(A/N: Hey! Well, looks like a little marriage is in order. Wonder how Draco does. What am I stupid? I already know what happens. It's you the readers that have no clue. Well, next chapter will be up soon. So don't worry. Also, just as a reminder. Chapters 1& 2 are just leading ups to the real story. They just show what is happening in Draco and Hermione's lives before Hogwarts. So the next chapter will be the real story.)

Big thanks to Daniel Powter for his hit song Bad Day

SammieJ


	3. Dirty Little Secret

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**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 3- Dirty Little Secret_

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_Let me know that I've done wrong  
When I've known this all along  
I go around a time or two  
Just to waste my time with you_

Tell me all that you've thrown away  
Find out games you don't wanna play  
You are the only one that needs to know

_-All American Rejects_

Hermione quickly got dressed that morning. She put on tight black jeans, she wanted to wear her favorite lilac tank top, but seeing as people would see her bruises she decided against it. She pulled on an onyx colored turtleneck that hugged her curves nicely. She then put on a brown colored jean jacket and to finish the look, she pulled her hair into a ponytail.

Hermione ran downstairs with her trunk and Crookshanks' carrier. She piled them into the trunk of the car and got into the back seat. Fernando got in the driver's side with her mother in the passenger seat and they took off.

When they arrived at the station, Hermione got out of the car and strolled around to the trunk to get her trunk, and Crookshanks' carrier. Fernando got out of the car to help. He pulled out her trunk and set it on the cart that Hermione had brought over. Hermione set Crookshanks on top of her trunk and was about to leave when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to look at her mother and Fernando.

"Hermione, I suggest you don't mention what happened this summer," her mother said.

"Yes mom." She gave them both a hug and walked off.

Hermione made her way to the barrier and walked through onto Platform 9 ¾. She made her way on to the train and settled herself into the Head's compartment as she had been made Head Girl for that year. She took out a book and waited for the Head Boy. During, her wait she met Heather Owens.

Heather Owens was another Gryffindor and had a huge crush on Harry Potter. They still hadn't told each other that they liked each other, which was stupid in Hermione's mind. She also saw Pansy, who she had been friends with since being introduced by Annie. Hermione was about to give up on actually seeing the Head Boy when he walked in. And who should it be? None other than Draco Malfoy himself.

Draco entered the Head's compartment and saw Hermione in there. He smirked and sat opposite of her.

"Hello, Granger," he said.

"Hello, Malfoy," Hermione replied.

"So, how did a mud-blood like you become Head Girl anyhow?"

"I don't know Malfoy. How did a ferret like you become Head Boy?"

She is really getting on my nerves. _Why, does she have to be so smart? Even when I am ranked at her level, she has to smartass me. Why is she wearing a jacket and turtleneck? It is like 90 degrees out. But, man…she looks HOT! What! I can't think that about Her-Granger. Bad Draco. Bad, bad, bad._ Draco thought privately.

Draco got up and walked out of the compartment. He headed down to the other end of the train where his fellow Slytherins were.

_I wonder what was up with Malfoy. He didn't respond to my comment. He is so weird. Hopefully I won't have to deal with him too much this year._ Hermione told herself. Her shoulder began bothering her, so she rubbed it a bit and rolled her shoulder around to try to lessen the tension there.

Hermione looked out the window to see that they would be arriving at Hogwarts in a half hour or so. Hermione went back to her book and was almost to the climax when Antoinette walked in. Annie and Hermione had met over the summer at the Chudley Cannons game. Ron's dad had gotten tickets to the game and Hermione and Harry had been invited to go along. Annie had been sitting next to Hermione and they had really hit it off.

"Hello, Hermione. How are you?" Noticing Hermione's outfit, she asked, "Aren't you hot?" Antoinette asked.

"Hi, Annie. I'm fine. And yes, I am a little warm, but nothing too bad," Hermione replied with a small smile.

"Well, any way. I had a great summer. I spent some of with Blaise. Oh! Also, I went to a party at Pansy's. Apparently she is engaged to Draco. Isn't that adorable?" Antoinette finished with a squeal.

Hermione gave a weak smile. Oh, yes it is adorable. Not! Of course, Draco and Pansy would end up together. It was the way of the world. "Yes it is adorable," she said out loud.

Hermione and Annie chatted for a few more minutes when the conductor on the train came on over the loud speaker: _ALL STUDENTS PLEASE CHANGE INTO YOUR SCHOOL ROBES, WE WILL BE ARRIVING AT HOGWARTS MOMENTARILY! THAT IS ALL._ Hermione took of her jacket and threw it over on her trunk. Annie screamed.

"Annie, what is it? Are you all right?" Hermione asked, a look of concern on her face.

"That's my question. What happened to your shoulder?" Annie asked pointing to her shirt.

Hermione looked to see a very large and bloody stain on her shirt. "It's nothing Annie. I just fell this morning."

Annie didn't buy it. She pulled the neck of the turtleneck over so she could get a better look. She saw that the cut was worse than she thought. It ran from her collarbone to the end of her shoulder.

"Hermione that is most definitely something," Annie screeched.

Hermione started to feel a bit light headed. "Annie, I'm fine, really. I'll go see Madam Pomfrey when we get there. For now let us ch..." Hermione began to sway and then she fell to the floor, unconscious. Annie quickly crouched next to her and started to shake her.

"Hermione wake up. Come on Hermione. Don't do this," Annie pleaded with her insensible friend.

When Hermione wouldn't awaken, Annie dashed out of the compartment looking for Harry and Ron. She banged on every compartment. Heather came out of her compartment looking rather annoyed.

"Annie, what is with all the banging?" She asked.

"It's Hermione. She fell unconscious from a wound in her shoulder. She's in the Head's compartment," She replied still banging on doors.

Heather quickly dashed down to the other end of the train to get the Mediwitch to come take a look. Annie looked through most of the compartments and came down to the last two. Annie knocked on the door and Ginny answered.

"Hey, Annie."

"Ginny, we've got a problem. Are Harry and Ron here?"

"Yeah, they are. What's the problem?"

"It's Hermione."

Just like that, Harry and Ron were at the door.

"What about Hermione?" all three asked.

"She fell unconscious from a shoulder wound in the Head's compartment."

All three ran down to the other end of the train. Annie went into the last compartment. She had seen Draco in there earlier and she wanted to check something out. She opened the door to see Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy. She walked in and sat beside Blaise.

"Draco, did you see Hermione?" Annie asked.

"Uh…yeah. Why are you asking?" Draco asked.

"Because, Hermione has a monstrous shoulder wound and I was wondering if you knew anything about it," she said.

"Granger has a…" Draco was cut off.

"Where is she?" Pansy screamed. She looked really scared. Well, who could blame her. Ever since Hermione caught Pansy with bruises the size of cantaloupes all over her body in the Prefect's bathroom, Hermione has always cared for her. Of course, Pansy is going to be upset when Hermione is the one hurt this time.

"Head's compartment," Annie announced.

Pansy sprinted out the door, with Draco, Blaise, and Annie behind her. By the time they reached the end of the Head's compartment, there was already a crowd around there. The door was shut, so no one could get in, but you could hear the low mumbles of the train's med witch inside. The people closest to the door would tell the others what they could hear. They picked up things like _'This cut isn't too bad'_ and _'No harm done, except a little blood loss'_ as well as _'You'll probably be in the hospital wing for a while just in case'_.

The train arrived at Hogwarts a few minutes later and Hermione was quickly taken to the Hospital wing. The others had to go to the start of term feast. They begged Madam Pomfrey to let them stay, but she said that they could come back after the feast.

The six headed down to the Great Hall. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Heather, Pansy, and Annie trooped across the Entrance Hall in silence. When they entered, they went their separate ways and sat at their own house tables. Dumbledore arose and asked for silence.

"Now, welcome all new students and old students. Welcome back to another glorious year at Hogwarts. I would like to introduce the Head Boy and Girl now. The Head Boy is Draco Malfoy." Draco stood up and everyone at the Slytherin table clapped and cheered. "Quiet down. Now, our Head Girl is Hermione Granger. Unfortunately, Hermione is in the Hospital Wing at this moment and was not able to attend to the feast. So, let us cheer for her as well and hope for a speedy recovery. Now, let the feast begin."

The Great Hall was all of a sudden quiet. Most of the kids didn't know about Hermione and those that did told everyone else. Everyone at the Gryffindor table had come to know and love Hermione. They hardly ate much. The feast soon ended and Prefects took the first years to their dorms. The six concerned friends, left to go to the Hospital Wing. However, they only got to stay for a few minutes.

Hermione was as pale as Nearly Headless Nick. Heather broke out in tears. Hermione was like her sister and it broke her heart to see her best friend in such a state. It took Ron and Harry to drag her out of the hospital wing. As they all headed for bed with the same thing in each of their heads.

What happened to Hermione.

_

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_

(A/N: So what did you think. Good? Not Good? I think I should have added a little something at the end, but I'm not sure. Review to give me tips.)Congrats to All American Rejects for their song Dirty Little Secret.

_SammieJ_


	4. Behind These Hazel Eyes

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**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 4- Behind These Hazel Eyes_

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_I told you everything  
Opened up and let you in  
You made me feel alright  
For once in my life  
Now all that's left of me  
Is what I pretend to be  
So together, but so broken up inside  
'Cause I can't breathe  
No, I can't sleep  
I'm barely hangin' on_

_-Kelly Clarkson_

Hermione lay in her bed. She didn't get any sleep that night. She kept remembering her father's words. _Now, everyone knew about her father. Well no one knew, yet. They just saw that I was beat up. That doesn't mean that they know it was my father._ She smiled at her thoughts. She could feel her eyes begin to get heavy. She was about to fall asleep when the door slammed open and a bunch of people came in.

"Hermione, are you okay?" a boy with flaming red hair, who Hermione recognized instantly as her friend, Ron, shouted.

"Yes, I'm fine," she croaked. Her throat was sore.

"Are you sure? I mean, you were beaten up pretty bad. You should have seen Annie and Heather and Pansy. All three of them were crying. Ginny most of all," Harry said.

"Shut up, Harry," Ginny said through her tears.

"Ginny, I'm fine," I said with a smile.

"I know. These ones are happy tears," she responded.

Hermione smiled at her.

"Hermione, who did this to you?" Harry asked. Hermione looked away from her friends. That was the _last_ thing she wanted to tell them.

"I can't tell you Harry. I'm sorry," Hermione said. She truly was sorry. But she swore to her mother not to tell anyone. She knew if she told Harry, he would only want to hurt her father and right now, her father was in prison. Where he could hurt no one anymore.

"Hermione, you have to tell us. Who ever did this to you, might possibly hurt someone else," Ron tried to reason with her.

"No, I know that the person that did this to me wouldn't hurt anyone else," she responded. _God, I hope he doesn't try to harm someone else._ She thought desperately.

"But, Hermione…" Ron said.

"That's enough. Drop it, okay? I am sick of you all pestering me. Now, just leave me alone so I can rest," Hermione snapped.

Hermione turned her back to them and waited for them to leave. Ginny pulled Harry and Ron out the door and down to the lake.

"Why can't she tell us?" Harry asked no one in particular.

"Harry, she must have had her reasons. She might not want to tell us because she might care for this person," Ginny said.

"Care for them? Ginny are you insane? She might care for this person, but obviously they don't care about her," Harry yelled.

Ron leaned over to Ginny and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and then ran off to the castle. About ten minutes later, she returned with Heather, Annie, and Pansy in tow. Harry was still pacing and mumbling to himself. Everyone looked over at Heather.

"What?" she asked.

"Go over there and snap him out of his excessive ramblings, you dolt," Ginny hissed.

"Why me?" she whispered.

"Because, you like him and he likes you," Pansy whispered heatedly.

"Harry doesn't like me. He told me so last year," Heather snapped.

"Well, then he was lying. I've seen the way he looks at you when you don't notice. Now get your butt over there and try to calm him down," Ron hissed.

"Fine," Heather spat. "But you all owe me for this if he bites my head off."

Heather walked over to Harry. He was still pacing and hadn't seen her yet. He stopped by the tree and rested his head on his arm as he leaned against it. Heather could still hear him mumbling.

"Harry?" she said cautiously.

Harry turned around ready to snap at whoever was stupid enought to bother him and saw Heather standing right in front of him. He had had a crush on Heather for quite some time. He didn't know if she liked him back, but he was positive he liked her.

Before Harry could say anything, Heather walked up to him and gave him a small chaste kiss on his lips. Harry was in shock at first, but soon wrapped his arms around her thin waist and kissed her deeply. Heather pulled away after a few seconds completely out of breath and rested her head on his chest.

"Hermione is going to be okay Harry," she murmured. She could feel him wrap his arms around her and hold on tight.

"I know she is, but it makes me mad that she won't tell me who hurt her," he said.

Heather could hear his voice crack and knew that he was trying to hold back tears. She wrapped her arms a little tighter around him and let a small tear from her eyes and she embraced the man she loved.

"Awww, young love," a voice said behind them.

The couple turned around to see their friends staring at them. They both blushed.

"Isn't it adorable, when you see two lost lovers find each other," Annie said.

"Shut up, Antoinette," Heather said. She knew she had hit a nerve.

"Don't call me that, Heather," she screeched.

Heather just smiled. The rest of the day, they would take turns looking in on Hermione, each coming back with news that she was fine. Heather was the last person to go see her; she walked up the stairs and into the Hospital wing. Hermione was lying in bed grumbling about something.

"You okay, Mione?" Heather asked.

"Yeah. I keep telling Madam Pomfrey that I can leave, but she won't listen. Anyway, how have you been?" Hermione asked.

"Can't complain."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"Well, you usually have something to complain about. Or you're rather chipper about something and you can't wait to tell everyone in the entire world. So I'm guessing it's the second one seeing as you have a huge grin on your face."

"Well, I finally told Harry how I felt. Well, actually I kissed him." Heather bite her lip trying to hold back her smile.

"You kissed him? Are you serious? OH my gosh, this is so big. Soon you'll be dating."

"What? What makes you think we'll be dating?"

"Well, everyone has been waiting for you two to get together forever."

"You mean you all knew it would happen?"

"Well, duh." Hermione couldn't believe how clueless her friend really was. This was exciting news.

"Oh, okay. Well, how have you been? Everyone is worried about you."

"I'm fine."

"Hermione, everyone comes back saying you're fine. Give me a better answer." Heather snapped. "And I'm not leaving until I get one."

Hermione sighed. _If I had to tell anyone, it might as well be her._ "Alright. I feel like a boulder hit me. I can walk though. My bruises have healed, the bruise on my heart won't."

"I'm sorry, Mione." Heather sighed. She truly was sorry, she hated to see her best friend, practically sister go through this torture.

"Well, good news. I get out tomorrow."

"That's cool."

"Yeah." Hermione looked away from Heather. _Maybe I said too much when I mentioned my heart. Dang it._

"So, what do you mean by the bruise on your heart won't heal?"

"It's nothing."

"I don't believe you."

"Tough cookies then," Hermione snapped.

"Come on, Hermione. You know me well enough to know that I would never tell someone your secrets," Heather pouted.

"You promise not to tell anyone. I mean, not anyone. I will tell them when I want to. Promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Alright, a few weeks after I returned home after 6th year, my mother left my father and me for a man she met at work. My dad got really mad and to deal with his pain, he would go out and drink a lot. Well, sometimes when he came home he would be really drunk and be in a fit of rage and sometimes I got in the crossfire…" Hermione's voice dwindled down as she told her story. Tears began to well up in her eyes. She had never told anyone about this before.

"Oh, my god! Hermione, are you telling me that your father did that to you?"

"Yeah. But after couple of weeks my mom was able to rescue me from him." A few tears spilled form her eyes as she mumbled the last part. Then her eyes snapped open. "Heather! You promised not to tell anyone. You can't."

"Alright, Hermione I won't, but you're going to need to tell someone soon."

"I know that. I just don't want anyone to know just yet."

Heather nodded, got up and gave Hermione a big hug before walking out of the Hospital Wing. She still couldn't believe that Hermione's father could do such a thing, even under the influence of alcohol. She walked back to the Gryffindor common room, only to find Harry, Ron, Antoinette, Blaise, and Ginny. _I guess Blaise is only here for Annie._ Heather thought to herself. The second she walked in she was hounded by everyone.

"How is she? Is she okay? Did she say anything? When will she leave? Has she gotten healed?" everyone kept asking her questions.

"Everyone shut up," Heather snapped. "My god, Hermione is fine. She is okay. Yes, she did say something. She said that she would be able to leave tomorrow. And yes she is healed," she answered the last question.

"Did she say who beat her?" Ron asked immediately.

Heather flashed back to her conversation with Hermione. She couldn't tell them. "No, she didn't."

They left it at that. Even though Heather felt horrible, she knew that she couldn't tell them. At least not right now. She would tell them if and when Hermione wanted her to. Right now, all she wanted to do was go lay down. She sat beside Harry on the couch, resting her head on his shoulder, while she watched Ron and Pansy play a game of Wizard's chess. Pansy was surprisingly good at the game.

Hermione lay in bed. "I hope that Heather doesn't say a word to them." She said to empty air.

Just then Draco walked into the hospital wing. He had a smirk on his face and he had a glint in his eye that Hermione didn't like at all.

"What do you want, ferret?" Hermione snapped.

"Chill Granger. Since you're getting out soon, you need to know where our common room is and the password. Our room is on the third floor behind a painting of three mermaids. The password is 'Gilly weed'."

"Thank you, Malfoy. Is that all?" Hermione asked. She wanted him gone.

"No. I wanted to know. Who hurt you, Granger? I want to send them flowers," he said with a smirk.

Hermione could feel her anger rising and the tears begging to be released. Malfoy walked over to Hermione and saw the tears begin to fall down her cheeks. _The great Hermione Granger is actually crying._ He thought to himself.

He slowly touched his hand to her face. She pulled away from him. "You know. We have more in common than you think, Granger." He said.

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" she snapped. _What could we possibly have in common?_

Draco bent down and whispered in her ear. "If you don't know that, then you're dumber than I thought." He lightly kissed her cheek and left the room.

Hermione was in shock. How dare he kiss me? He has no right. I am not his girlfriend and I am not his friend. We are enemies and enemies don't kiss each other. Hermione went to bed that night, praying that tomorrow would be better and that the visit from Malfoy had been a dream. The tears in her eyes dried on her cheeks as she fell asleep.

_

* * *

_

(A/N: So was it good? I did rush the ending a bit, but I didn't want it to go forever. You lose your readers if you drag things out to long. Well, you know what to do. Please Review. Hey that rhymes. I'm so stupid. Well, see yah. I love my readers. I promise to write more for 'Meant to be?' I am just having a writer's block. I know what to do for the beginning; I just can't figure what to do for the rest of it.)

_Also, major props go out to Kelly Clarkson for Behind These Hazel Eyes_

_SammieJ_


	5. Die Of A Broken Heart

_

* * *

_

**When Worlds Collide**

Chapter 5- Die Of A Broken Heart

* * *

_the heart of a child  
is in your hands now  
so let's see you smile  
'cause i'm not impressed with your loneliness  
and it's been a while  
since you forgave all your changes made  
so let's count the miles together_

until i die of a broken heart  
a broken heart  
until i die of a broken heart  
a broken heart  
_-ZWAN_

Hermione was bored to death being cooped up in the Hospital Wing. Even though, her wounds were healed she still had to stay. Her mind kept running over what Draco had said to her last night. _What did he mean by 'We have more in common than you think'? What could we possibly have in common? The only thing that we could possibly, even probably have in common is that we are both magic. Other than that, we have nothing in common. He also touched me. He brushed his hand against my cheek. His touch was so warm and he was so caring…wait. What am I thinking? Hermione, you can't think about Draco in that manner. He is not caring, he is evil. He tortured me and my friends for years, he is a vile, despicable ferret._ She mentally slapped herself. But her mind kept thinking about his touch and she kept seeing his face. Her hand kept touching her cheek where he had touched her. She quickly tuned it out and pushed the thought to the back of her mind for later. She decided to read a book to keep her mind off of Draco.

"Hermione, get your nose out of that book and your cute butt out of that bed," a red haired girl said.

"What are you talking about Ginny?" Hermione asked.

Her best friend, Ginny Wesley, had just come darting in.

"Madam Pomfrey said you could leave today remember," she said jumping up and down at the foot of Hermione's bed.

Hermione looked at the clock, it read noon. She wouldn't be able to leave until before dinner. "Ginny, I'm sorry, but I don't get to leave for another six hours. Madam Pomfrey wants to make sure that I am properly healed until I am able to leave."

"Oh! Okay…well, I'll see you later then," Ginny said some what disappointed.

Ginny disappeared and Hermione laid down to rest. Her dreams were full of Draco. Hermione saw his face, felt his touch, and his breath on her cheek before he kissed her. She didn't know what to do. _Did Draco like her or was he just playing some sick joke on her? He had better not be playing with me because if he is I will hex him into oblivion. Why would he even want to mess with me? I mean, he has Pansy and a bunch of other slutty Slytherin girls he can shag whenever he wants._ Hermione pondered.

Harry and Ron were in their History of Magic class. The Professor was saying something about the Giant Wars. Of course, Harry and Ron weren't paying attention. They were far too worried about Hermione.

_Who would do such a thing to Mione? Maybe, it was that ferret Malfoy. It had to of been him. He hates Mione and he had the opportunity to hurt her. When I see him, I am going to use every spell, hex, and curse I know to get him back for doing such a thing._ Harry told himself.

Harry wasn't in a good mood for the rest of the day. He would snap at anyone who came over to him. He also got detention for back talking Snape. Dinner time rolled around and Harry, Ron, and Ginny made their way to the Great Hall. Heather walked in and gave Harry a kiss before sitting with her friends at the other end of the table.

"Mind if I join you?" someone asked from behind Harry.

"Yes, I do mind. Now, go away…" Harry snapped as he turned around to see who was behind him.

"Well, I am sorry your upset Harry," Hermione said.

"Hermione what are you doing here? Was it you that I snapped at? I'm so sorry," Harry rambled off.

"I got out of the hospital wing, so I came down here for dinner. And…yes, you did snap at me and I forgive you," Hermione said with a giggle. The others made room so that Hermione could sit down beside Heather and Ginny.

"I am so sorry. Hermione, I was just so worried about you. And I was just so frustrated with Malfoy for doing this to you and…" Harry was cut off.

Hermione had been eating bites of kidney pie while Harry had been rambling, but when she heard the name _Malfoy_, her fork clattered to her plate. "Malfoy! You think that Malfoy did this to me. No, Harry, no! Malfoy didn't do anything to me," Hermione said a bit upset.

"If it wasn't Malfoy, then who was it Hermione?" Ron and Ginny asked.

"It's none of your business," Hermione snapped.

"But Hermione…" Harry began.

"No! Now, stop pestering me," Hermione practically screamed. She got up and left the table.

The others finished their dinner. Harry, Ron, and Ginny all went back to the Gryffindor Tower. Hermione headed for the Head's common room. Hermione arrived at a portrait of three mermaids making seashell necklaces. The one in the middle was the one that spoke.

"Password, dear?" she said.

"Gilly weed," Hermione said.

The portrait swung open and Hermione walked in. She saw no sign of Draco. Hermione sat down by the fire and waited. She began to nod off and soon fell fast asleep. It was almost midnight when she awoke. Hermione called out Draco's name, but there was no answer. She went up to his room, but he wasn't there, nor was he in the bathroom. _Where is he? He didn't return._ Hermione wondered.

Hermione walked out of the common room and walked down the corridors quietly in case Filch or Mrs. Norris was lurking around. She walked past the dungeons about half a dozen times. _He's probably in there._ She finally walked down to the door that led to the Slytherin common room. Thankfully she was Head Girl, so she had all passwords and had the power to check all dorms if necessary.

She looked in and checked all the boys' dorms and finding no Draco, she decided to go back to the Head's common room. She walked down the hall to the grand staircase. She was just about to head up the stairs when she heard something behind her. She turned around to see the doors open and someone stumbling inside.

The person looked weak, helpless, bruised, and cut up. They stumbled their way across the floor and got in a few feet before they collapsed. Hermione ran over to the person and gently rolled them over, so she could see their face. They looked badly cut up, whoever it was. No wonder they collapsed. It looked like someone put them through a paper shredder. The moonlight lit up their face. Hermione practically screamed when she saw it.

The person was _Draco Malfoy_.

* * *

(A/N: Oh! Cliffy. I love it when I have cliff-hangers. Well, you know what to do. Review, review, review.)

Big thanks to ZWAN for Die of a Broken Heart

SammieJ


	6. I Care 4 U

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 6- I Care 4 U_

* * *

_There's no need to worry no.  
Oh, boy if you call on me  
I'll come, I'll come in a hurry!_

_Can I talk to you (C'mon...)  
comfort you (I...love you)  
Let you know (Ohhh, Baby..)  
I care for you (I love you, yes I do...)  
Can I talk to you (I wanna talk...nooo)  
comfort you (give me a chance..)  
Let you know(I wanna let you know,gotta let you know,that I love You...hey)  
I care 4 u (hear me say)._

_Hold on (Hold on)  
Stay strong (Stay strong)  
Press On (For me, babyyyy...)  
I care for you (I care 4 u...)_

_-Aaliyah_

Hermione looked down upon Draco's bruised and cut-up face. He had a huge gash in his left shoulder. He was paler than usual and had a very weak pulse. Hermione could feel hot tears sliding down her cheeks. Why am I crying over him? she asked herself. She looked down to see Draco almost on the point of death. His breathing had become ragged and he kept fidgeting. Moving quickly, Hermione stood up and made sure that Draco was laying flat.

She pointed her wand toward Draco. "Wingardium Leviosa," she whispered.

She levitated Draco up the stairs and into the Head's common room. She laid him down on one of the couches and ran to her room to get a first aid kit. When Hermione returned to the common room, she found Draco awake.

"You're awake. Um…are you okay?" she asked sitting on the edge of the coffee table by the couch, Draco was on.

"Where the hell am I, Granger?" he snapped. He was still a bit weak, so his voice was barely over a whisper and his eyes seemed to shut again and again as he struggled to stay awake.

"You're in the common room. Now, stay still. I need to clean up your wounds," Hermione said pulling out a purple liquid that she started to shake and it turned to a goop. "Now, this is going to feel really cold. I'm going to need you to take off your shirt."

"Excuse me," Draco almost shouted.

"Well, I have to clean up the wounds on your chest," Hermione said a matter-of-factly.

Draco gave her a skeptical look, before realizing that all she wanted to do was help him. Draco nodded and gently pulled his shirt off. Hermione gasped. His chest was covered with cuts and bruises. It reminded her of when her father beat her. She poured the purple liquid onto a cloth and barely touched Draco when he jumped back, falling off the couch.

"Jesus H. Christ that's freezing," Draco screamed.

"I told you. Now, hold still," Hermione scolded.

Draco sat back down and Hermione began rubbing the goop over his chest and stomach. The entire time, Draco tried not to show any pain, but Hermione noticed his grip tighten on the cushions.

"So what did you mean when you said 'we have more in common than you think'?" Hermione asked.

"You honestly haven't figured it out," Draco said. When she didn't answer, he continued. "I got beat the same way you did."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked a little scared.

"I mean, I got beat by my father and from what I could tell from yesterday you got beaten by yours. Am I correct?" Draco asked. "I mean, I only guessed since I knew what wounds looked like when beaten by a male."

Hermione could feel the tears running down her cheeks. She wiped them away and nodded.

"Sorry, if I hit a nerve," Draco said. He sounded almost sincere. Almost. Wait, Malfoy isn't sincere, he's mean.

"It's alright. I can't believe I told you about my father. I haven't even told my best friends, well I told Heather," Hermione said, smiling a bit.

Draco smiled as well. "So, how did I get here?" Draco asked.

"I went looking for you, I found you, and I levitated you up here," Hermione said putting away the cloth and potion.

"You went looking for me," Draco said with a smile.

Hermione could feel her cheeks going red. "Well, I…um…thought that…yeah, I suppose I did," Hermione said her cheeks going a deeper red.

Draco began to laugh. Hermione couldn't help but suppress a giggle.

"Urgh," Draco said grabbing his shoulder. Hermione stopped laughing and put her hand over his shoulder to put pressure on the wound.

"Oh! Come on, let me help you to your room. You need a lot of rest after what happened tonight," Hermione said. She stood up and offered her free hand.

Draco looked at her a couple of times and then took her hand. Hermione wrapped her arm around his waist to steady him and walked to his room. She opened the door to find the most extravagant room she had ever seen. It was decorated in green, silver, and black. He had a king sized bed with green and silver pillows, forest green sheets, and a black fur comforter with a silver snake in the middle. She helped him into his bed. She then turned around and conjured up a single bed in the corner.

"What are you doing, Granger?" Draco asked.

"Well, if you must know, I am going to stay here for the night to make sure that your wounds heal properly. So, stuff it, Malfoy and go to sleep," Hermione snapped.

Hermione took out her wand and changed into her pajamas. She was in black pants and a too big green t-shirt. Draco was staring at her. God she looks amazing. He mentally slapped himself for thinking that and then went to sleep.

When Draco awoke the next morning, he looked over to where Hermione slept to find her gone. He got up from his bed and as quickly as possible with his injuries, walked to the common room. He looked in to find Hermione, still in her pajamas, reading a book by the fire. Draco was about to go back to his room when he heard a meow. He turned to see Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, hissing at him.

"Crookshanks, what are you hissing at?" Hermione asked walking over to where Draco was standing. "Oh! Draco, I didn't know you were up. Uh…Let me help you over to the couch."

Hermione helped Draco over to the couch, and then she ran back to her room to get her first aid kit. She came back and took out the bottle and cloth from the previous night. And began to look over and rub the stuff on his wounds.

Draco thought for a moment before deciding, he didn't like the silence between them. Also the fact that he knew practically nothing about her and seeing as they would be living together, it would be best to get to know as much about her as possible. "So, Granger. Do you want to play a game?" Draco asked.

"What type of game?" Hermione responded.

"It's nothing bad. It's called '20 questions'. You want to play?" Draco asked.

"You know a muggle game! Wow! I'm impressed Malfoy. But sure, you can start," Hermione answered.

"What's your full name?" Draco said.

"Hermione Jane Granger."

"Mine's Draco Lucius Malfoy." Draco said. "Now you ask a question. We'll go back and forth."

"Your favorite color?" Hermione said.

"Green."

"Lavender."

"Favorite food?" Draco asked

"Chicken."

"Treacle Fudge."

"Favorite band?" Hermione said.

"The Plague."

"Evanescence."

"Birthday? "Draco said.

"September 19."

"December 18."

"Oh! A winter baby."

"Yeah. What are you going to do about it?"

Hermione just shook her head. "Favorite class?" Hermione said.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Transfiguration."

"Hmmm…what can I ask you now?" Draco tapped his fingers together trying to come up with a question for her. "Oh, here's one. Why are you so nice to me all of a sudden?"

"I could very well ask you the same thing."

"Well, I'm nice to you because if we are going to be working together for the year, I see a lot of problems and tantrums that will be happening if we fight all the time."

"That's actually really smart. I guess I'm nice to you, because you haven't said anything to me that could make me mean to you. And I never really did hate you, but there were things that made me mad. Like the fact that you kept calling me a 'mudblood'. Anyway, I always did care about you...like I care about everyone else...it was just a little harder to show to you then others," she said with a blush.

"You care about me," Draco muttered. Hermione nodded. He placed his hand against her cheek and pressed his lips against hers for a brief chaste kiss. He pulled away to see her with her eyes closed. Hermione opened her eyes to see him staring at her and she blushed. They looked at each other for a few minutes before Hermione cleared her throat.

"Well, I think that is it for now," Hermione said as she put her things away.

"One more, Hermione," Draco said.

Hermione turned around stunned. Did he just say my first name? "Yeah."

"Friends or Foes."

Draco's question took Hermione a bit by surprise.

"I…uh…guess, that we are…friends," Hermione said, still a bit shocked.

"Friends."

Hermione left the room and went to her room to put her things away. She grabbed her books and headed for class.

* * *

Thanks bunches to Aaliyah for 'I Care 4 U'

SammieJ


	7. Best Friends

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 7- Best Friends_

* * *

_Anytime you need a friend, you can count on me  
Anytime you're having doubts, you know I will believe  
Even through thick and thin, no matter where or when  
On me you can depend  
We are best friends_

_Whenever there is something that is trying to knock you down  
Remember you can call me and we'll get your feet on solid ground  
You'll never have to worry, don't you ever walk in fear  
'Cause through it all you'll have someone who's always standing near _

_-Angela Via_

Ever since Malfoy, well Draco, as Hermione had begun referring to him as, had gotten hurt by his father, Hermione had been keeping a close eye on him. She wasn't sure, but she knew that something wasn't right, if Malfoy Sr. could get on to the Hogwarts grounds so easily. She and Draco had become very good friends. They were still cautious about what they shared with each other, but they still were able to talk and have fun. Of course their friendship was secret. They acted rude and snooty to one another during the day and in classes, but in the safety of their own dorm rooms, they were civil. Draco was sweet and he did care about Hermione. If she got hurt, he would help to mend it. Or when she needed help with homework. Draco wanted to bring their friendship out in the open, but of course, Hermione was a bit worried about the outcome from their friends.

One day, when Hermione was in her room, doing her homework, a knock came at the door.

"Come in." Hermione sighed as she flipped through the pages of her transfiguration book.

The door opened and Draco stepped inside. Hermione flipped over onto her stomach and then pushed herself up, so she could face Draco.

"Oh! Draco, how are you? Do you need something?" Hermione asked. Draco was looking peeved about something.

"I'm just fine, Mione, but can you tell that ruddy bird to leave me alone?" Draco fumed. He pointed out the door and Hermione began to hear screeching coming from the common room. "It's been pecking at my head and pulled out some of my hair."

Hermione got up from her bed and walked over to where she had heard the screeching. On the table sat a beautiful sugar brown owl with a package tied to its leg.

"Oh! Hello, muffin. Poor dear, you look like you flew for days. Here let me take the package." Hermione cooed, then she turned to Draco. "Draco can you get me some owl treats, please?"

Draco mumbled to himself as he went up to his room and brought down a handful of treats and laid them down for Muffin. "What's a muffin?"

Hermione looked up from the knot she was trying to loosen from Muffin's leg. "Not a 'what', a 'who'. Muffin is my cousin's owl. Well, she isn't technically my cousin, it's a long story. But she's also a witch. She bought Muffin a long time ago. Its how we keep in touch," Hermione responded. She untied the package and Muffin flew off through the window.

"What did she send you?" Draco asked peering over Hermione's shoulder. Hermione opened the package to find a gorgeous dress. This dress was like no other. It was strapless and wrapped around her body hugging every curve. It was tight from waist up and flowed freely to her feet from her waist. The best part about this dress was that it changed color depending on your mood. Blue stood for sadness, yellow stood for happiness, black was deep depression, red was in love, pink was charmed, and green meant envy. Draco stared at the dress in amazement. Never before had he seen such a wonderful dress. It sparkled like the stars of the night, in fact that was one of the things the dress turned into. Under the dress was a small cream colored pamphlet. Hermione picked it up and opened it.

"What does it say?" Draco asked. He was amazed by Hermione's new dress. He had never seen something like it before.

"It just says the different styles of the dress and colors," Hermione answered. Draco looked at the pamphlet. Not only could the dress change color, it could change size. If you wanted it could be a floor-length dress, a knee-length dress, a mid-thigh-length dress, or it could even be a shirt.

Draco looked up from the pamphlet to see Hermione pulling the dress over her head. When it came above her shirt, she flicked her wand and the shirt disappeared. After the dress flowed to her feet, Hermione took off her pants. She spun around and around. Draco smiled.

"That dress suits you, Mione. Try the other settings on it," Draco said.

Hermione looked at the pamphlet to see how to change the size of the dress. She took her wand and tapped the dress at the knee. The dress started to disappear and pretty soon it was up to her knees. She showed it off to Draco, after spinning a couple times, she would tap her wand at her mid-thigh and the dress disappeared a bit again, but instead of flowing out, it hugged her curves. She wanted to see it as a top, so she told Draco to turn around and she put her jeans back on. She tapped her wand at her waist and it disappeared again to her waist. The top only showed a little skin. Draco turned around to see her and he gave a whistle. Hermione turned beet red from embarrassment.

"Mione, I don't think that I have ever seen you in anything that shows off your unique personality such as this," he said. Hermione smiled. "You look really beautiful, Mione."

"Thank you."

"So what are we to do today?" he asked.

"Well, there is that Hogsmeade trip today. Ginny wants me to go with her to buy a few things. Then Harry and Ron want me to meet with them at the Three Broomsticks. Honestly, I don't feel up to it, but I already promised Ginny that I would go," Hermione sighed.

"Well, you could go out with Ginny, but just tell Ron and Harry your not feeling well and come back here," Draco suggested.

"Then I will be here all by myself with no one to talk to."

"I'm not going on the trip, so I'll be here," Draco said.

"Why aren't you going?" Hermione questioned.

"Please, we're heads, we can go whenever we want," Draco smirked.

"What ever. I'm gonna go change and meet up with Ginny by the fountain," Hermione said as she left the room.

An hour later, Hermione had bounded down the stairs and out the doors to find Ginny. She was, of course, by the fountain and when she saw Hermione, she ran up and gave her a hug.

"Hey Mione," Ginny said. "You took a while. Come on, let's go."

The two girls made their way to Hogsmeade and by the time the carriage arrived, many of the students were already there. They started out by getting some new parchment and quills. Then they moved on to candy and sweets. By the time they got to Artemis' Robes for the Young and Beautiful they were completely worn out. They looked through the shop, picking out outfits to wear on weekends and other free days. Hermione was quiet for a most of the day. As Ginny stared at her friend in worry, she grabbed a handful of tops and skirts and walked over to Hermione.

"Come on, let's go try this stuff on," she said pulling Hermione to the dressing rooms in the back of the shop.

When they entered the dressing rooms, they began to try on all sorts of items. They switched clothes back and forth if they were too small or too big.

"Hermione," Ginny said.

"Yes," came the response.

"Hermione, we're really good friends and we tell each other everything, right?"

"Of course, Ginny."

"Then what is wrong? You have been so quiet all day and you seem really distracted," Ginny said giving up on trying to find a matching top for her green skirt.

"Nothing is wrong, Ginny. I have just had a lot on my mind," Hermione said.

"Then tell me, so you can cool off."

"Alright. Well, I think I might have feelings for Malfoy, other than pure hatred," Hermione said slowly.

"Like what?"

"Well, I mean I'm not in love with him, but just feelings like friendship. Draco and I have kind of been hanging out, like friends, for the past weeks or so," Hermione answered, biting her lip.

"Hermione, why were you worried about telling me this? I honestly don't care that you are friends with him. I mean, you have always had a good sense of character. I trust you one hundred percent. Um…what are you going to tell Harry and Ron?"

"I have no idea," Hermione mumbled, coming out of the dressing room.

"Well, I can help you if you want. I have known Heather for a long time and she owes me a few favors. If we play our cards right, the guys won't care your friends with Draco either," Ginny smiled.

"How so?"

"Well, Ron's my brother, so I can get him to forgive easily. And if Heather cooperates easily, we'll have Harry in no time at all."

Hermione returned back to the Heads common room. She had told Harry and Ron that she was not feeling well. They asked if they should come by later, but she declined. Although, in the back of her mind, she knew they would be coming to the common room soon enough to make sure she was okay. She put her bags in her room and removed her shoes. She decided on taking a shower before dinner began.

She removed her socks and removed the hair band from her hair. She removed her bracelets and the belt on her pants. She started to unbutton her top as she walked into the bathroom she shared with Draco. Just as she walked into the room, she heard a gasp. She looked up to see Draco only in a towel. She looked down at herself and saw that her jeans were hanging a bit and her white buttoned shirt had three buttons unbuttoned and from the heat in the bathroom, it began to show her red bra. She looked back at Draco before walking out of the room.

The second the door closed behind her, she let out the breath she had been holding. She had just seen Draco Malfoy naked! Well, not naked actually, but really close. She quickly re-buttoned her shirt and went over to Draco's room to apologize. She knocked on his door twice before he answered. He was dressed in only a pair of black silk boxers and his hair was still damp and falling into his eyes.

"Um…I'm really sorry about barging in like that. I…uh…didn't know you were in there," Hermione said slowly.

"It's okay Hermione. I mean, no foul really. We are friends right," he said. He almost laughed at her expression. She looked as white as a ghost.

"Yeah…um…I'll let you finish getting ready," Hermione said as she walked back to her room.

She flopped down on her bed and buried her head in her pillow. When she had seen Draco in just a towel, her stomach had flipped. But how could that be when her feelings for him were purely just friendship. Just as she was about to go talk to Draco again, a knock came at the door.

Hermione opened her door to see Draco already opening the portrait. Just as the portrait opened, Draco was thrown backwards onto the floor.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked as she scampered down the stairs.

She looked over at the portrait hole and saw Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Heather all standing there. Ron had his hand in a fist and was staring daggers at Draco. Hermione looked back at Draco and saw his nose was bleeding.

"What the hell did you hit him for?" Hermione snapped helping Draco to his feet.

"What are you talking about Hermione? That ferret put a curse on you. There is no way you would be hanging around him so much or being nice to him, if you weren't under a spell."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on," Harry grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the door. "We're going to go to Madam Pomfrey and figure out what potion or spell that git put you under."

"Harry, stop!" Hermione got out of his grip and stood beside Draco. "Me and Draco are friends."

"You are definitely under some sort of spell, Mione," Ron said shaking his head.

"It's you both that are mental here. Draco isn't a selfish bastard like his father. Draco and I are friends. And if you both can't understand that, then I will no longer be friends with either of you two," Hermione snapped.

"Hermione, you're being mental here. Why would you want to be friends with him?" Harry said pointing at Draco.

"Because he is sweet and he actually listens to me, unlike you two jerks. So unless you two get over your stupid prejudice thing and start being friends with Draco, then I will no longer be your friend," Hermione snapped.

"And I will cast such a bad bat-bogey hex on you both, you'll be sore for months," Ginny snapped.

"Also, you will be deprived of a lot more, Mr. Potter, if you can't stop being a bloody jerk," Heather said narrowing her eyes.

Harry and Ron looked at each other then at the girls around them. Ron was not thrilled with the fact that his Hermione was friends with that cretin. He also wasn't thrilled with his sister casting a bat-bogey hex on him either. Ginny was like her mother, she scares all her brothers. As for Harry, he had finally gotten Heather to go out with him and he could possibly lose her if he didn't give Malfoy a chance. Well, there was only one choice.

"Alright, we'll give Malfoy one chance. If he blows it, we walk away," Harry said before leaving with Ron. Ron hadn't said a word and most likely, he would be the hardest to convince about Draco.

"Well, that went better than I thought," Hermione said.

"Speak for yourself. I was hoping not to get punched," Draco said. He had fixed his bloody nose during the conversation.

"Oh! You're fine, stop being a baby," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Well, since we got this settled, let's go get something to eat," Heather announced as she walked out of the room.

"Shall we," Draco said giving Hermione his hand.

"Let's," Hermione smiled as she took his hand in hers.

* * *

Big props to Angela Via for her song Friends

SammieJ


	8. I Think I Love You

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 8- I Think I Love You_

* * *

_I'm sleeping  
And right in the middle of a good dream  
Then all at once I wake up  
From something that keeps knocking at my brain  
Before I go insane  
I hold my pillow to my head  
And spring up in my bed  
Screaming out the words I dread ...  
"I think I love you!" _

_-Kaci._

Let's just say that finding out that the biggest enemies in school were now friends was not the easiest thing. Draco and Hermione had finally come out in the open about their friendship. Of course there were questions everywhere. In between all their classes, they were hounded. Everyone would ask them if they were under some kind of curse or if they were mental. Ginny, Heather, Pansy, and Annie would come up to them and get them away from the crowd before it got too crazy. Harry and Ron were still not happy about the whole friendship deal, but they were learning to cope with the situation, especially after Heather refused to even let Harry come within five feet of her. She had cast this spell, so unless Harry agreed with the friendship, he couldn't come near her. It was kind of funny to see him try to get near her, only to find a barrier in his way. Ron, of course was the hardest to come around. He hadn't spoken to anyone for a week before Ginny put a bat-bogey hex on him and he finally agreed to give Draco one chance.

Hermione was sorting through her books in the library, trying to find the last ingredient for the Draught of Living Death potion, when two arms wound themselves around her waist, making her squeal. She turned to see Draco standing behind her with a smirk on his face.

"My god, Draco. You gave me a fright," Hermione gasped putting her hand over her heart.

"I'm sorry," he said sarcastically.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had quidditch practice," Hermione said turning back to her books.

"I thought I might come by and see you real quick before I headed down to the quidditch pitch. Why are you back here?" he asked.

Hermione looked up from her book to see what he was talking about. She was of course in the very back corner of the library as usual.

"Because it is quieter back here," she mumbled.

"So what are you doing later?" he asked looking over her shoulder.

"I'll probably still be here. Damn!" Hermione had dropped three of her books.

"Here," Draco picked them up and dropped them down on the table. "And by the way, the ingredients you're looking for are on page two hundred and fifty six of Potent Potion Making."

Hermione stared up at him then she went looking through that book and exactly where he said in the bottom corner in small script was the ingredients to the potion.

"How did you know that?" she asked looking back at him.

"I just know."

"Well, you saved me three hours in here. Oh, I forgot to get something off the shelf," Hermione began to get up, but tripped on her school bag. Draco grabbed her around the waist to keep her form falling, but tripped as well and fell on top of her.

With Hermione below him, her hair scattered around her and breathing hard, Draco lost himself. He stared into her honey brown eyes and before you can say Weasley Wizard Wheezes his lips were on hers. He moved his lips gently against hers. As she began to respond he snaked his arm underneath her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Hermione could feel his tongue at the edge of her lips and granted entrance. Their kiss ran deeper and after a few seconds, they pulled away from each other.

They stared into each others eyes before moving together for another kiss, this time a bit slower, but every bit as passionate. When they pulled apart they looked back into each others eyes one more time before getting up.

Draco straightened out his clothing, as did Hermione.

"I'm…uh…sorry," Draco mumbled.

Hermione looked at him. "Are you sorry that you kissed me or that your late for quidditch practice?"

"Dang it! I'm late! Um…I have to go," he said grabbing his broom that he left by the table.

"Not so fast. Which is it?" she asked grabbing the sleeve of his robe before he could run off.

"Alright. I'm sorry I kissed you. We're just friends and I don't recall friends snogging each other like that," he said.

"Well, that's true, but I did kind of like it," she said in a small voice.

"You did," he smirked.

"Don't get cocky with me. Now go to practice," she said shooing him out of the library.

Once he was gone, she brought her fingers to her lips and she could still feel the small tingle from when she had kissed him. "Wow," she whispered.

* * *

Later that day, Draco came from quidditch looking tired with his broom dragging behind him. He found Hermione asleep on the couch in the Heads commons with a book across her lap. The warm fire cast shadows around her and illuminated her face. He walked over to her and smiled down at her angelic face. He placed a soft kiss on her lips before walking up to his room, removing his clothes and walking into the bathroom. The sound of a shower awoke Hermione. She looked around and stretched before getting up herself and going up to her room.

Draco finished his shower and walked back downstairs after changing into jeans and a t-shirt. Hermione was no where to be found when he came downstairs. Just as if she heard his thoughts, she came bounding downstairs in gray baby shorts and an Evanescence shirt. She spotted Draco sitting on the couch and walked over to him.

"So how was practice?" she asked sitting on the opposite side of the couch from him.

"Not bad. Kind of boring. The team basically hates me for making them run drills, but they'll get over it when we beat Gryffindor," he smirked.

"In your dreams," Hermione laughed.

"No, I believe that's you."

She smacked him playfully on the arm. They were silent for a few minutes before Draco broke the silence.

"Hermione, if you like someone, you're supposed to tell them, right? Because otherwise, they are completely oblivious to your true feelings and think something else," Draco rambled on and on.

"Draco what are you getting at?"

"I like you Hermione. And I don't mean just friendship like, I mean boyfriend/girlfriend like. I mean, that kiss this afternoon was amazing. It felt so wonderful. I loved the feeling of you in my arms. I guess what I'm getting at is, do you like me the way I like you?" he said staring into her eyes.

Hermione looked at him and stared into his eyes for confirmation of what he just said. It was true. "Yes. I do like you. I was just scared to tell you because I didn't know if you liked me the way I liked you."

"Well, now that we got that out in the open, how about we go down to the kitchens for some ice cream," Draco announced getting off the couch and taking Hermione's hand.

"I would be delighted Mr. Malfoy," Hermione smiled as she took his hand and pecked him on the cheek.

"Come along then, Ms. Granger," Draco smirked as he held the door for her and they walked towards the kitchens.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" a voice whispered from outside the Heads commons.

"Whatever we have to do, we need to do it quick."

"What do you propose," Dean said with a smirk.

"Well, you want Hermione and I want Draco, I have a perfect idea," the girl whispered before walking off.

* * *

Hermione has been nothing, but happy the last few days. She was happy with Draco and her friends were acting civilized to him at least. There were no fights and she hadn't seen any of them with bruises or anything. Heather was the only one that knew about Hermione and Draco and that was because she caught them snogging in the library.

It was late in the afternoon, and Hermione was hanging out at the quidditch pitch watching some of the players from Gryffindor warming up a bit before practice. Heather came up to Hermione with a look of horror on her face. She was as pale as a ghost.

"Hermione, you have to come with us," Heather gasped.

"Why? What's wrong?" Hermione didn't like the look on her face. What is someone was hurt? What if Draco was hurt? Oh no!

"Just come on," Heather said as they ran back to the castle.

They ran all the way to a deserted corridor on the fifth floor. Hermione finally gave up and stopped. She was sick of Heather's silence, she wanted to know what was going on and she wanted to know now.

"Alright, I'm not going any farther until you guys tell me what is going on," Hermione said gasping for air.

Heather looked nervous and refused to look at Hermione.

"Draco's cheating on you…with Pansy," Heather said.

* * *

Big props to Kaci for I Think I Love You

SammieJ


	9. Crazy Little Thing Called Love

_

* * *

_

**When Worlds Collide**

Chapter 9- Crazy Little Thing Called Love

* * *

_Boy you got me catching feelings  
Got me thinking maybe you're the one  
I didn't understand the reason  
That my heart was beating like a drum  
I didn't understand the meaning  
Then you opened up my eyes to  
A crazy little thing called love  
(A crazy little thing called love)  
A crazy little thing called love  
whoa ho yeah_

_-Rihanna_

Hermione stared hard at Heather, she had a serious look on her face. Hermione just burst out laughing.

"I'm not joking Hermione. I saw Draco and Pansy holding hands and snogging just around the corner," Heather said.

Hermione laughed harder. "Nice joke. Draco would never cheat on me, he told me so." She said clutching her side. "Besides, Pansy's my friend, she wouldn't hurt me."

"See for yourself," Heather said pulling an invisibility cloak out of her pocket. "I borrowed it from Harry."

Hermione got under the cloak and followed Heather around the corner. There, pressed against the wall, was Pansy and the guy attacking her neck with kisses, was Draco. Hermione was in shock. She couldn't breath. She motioned to Heather for them to go back.

"I'm sorry Hermione," Heather said when the cloak was removed.

"I have to go," Hermione whispered.

* * *

"Do you think we did the right thing, Lavender," Dean said when the potion wore off.

"Of course. Draco and Hermione don't belong together."

"Alright." He still wasn't sure about this. Yes, he liked Hermione, but he didn't want her to be hurt like this.

"Now let's go before we're seen."

* * *

Hermione walked into the Heads commons only to find Draco sitting on the couch reading a book. When he saw her, he smiled, but his smile was wiped away when he saw her tears.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Why are you here?" she gasped.

"I've always been here. Go ahead and ask Blaise, he was just here."

"But I just saw you and…what?" Hermione gasped.

"Okay, calm down. What happened?"

Hermione re-told her entire story, from the quidditch pitch to coming back to the commons. Draco was in shock that someone would go to such lengths to break them up.

"Apparently, someone isn't happy about our relationship," he said.

"I don't understand. Why does it matter?" Hermione mumbled. "And who would know? We haven't even come out in the open yet."

"I don't know, but I promise you, that nothing will ever happen to you as long as I'm here," Draco said gathering her in his arms. He cursed whoever would do this. He had finally found happiness and someone was trying to take that away from him. Well, if it was a fight they wanted, it was a fight they would get.

Hermione soon fell asleep in his arms and Draco pick her up bridal style and walked up the stairs to her room. He tried to open her door, but realized that he couldn't. There was a lock on her door so he couldn't just go in without her granting him permission. Instead of trying to wake her up, he just carried her to his room and laid her down. He removed her robes, so she was only in jeans and a t-shirt. He changed into his pajama pants and got in next to her. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. He soon fell asleep as well.

By morning, Hermione was wide awake and was watching Draco sleep. His hair was in his eyes and his chest was falling up and down from his steady breathing. Hermione smiled to herself. _Why would someone pretend to be Draco and Pansy, just to get me to break up with Draco? I don't understand this_. Draco's movement broke Hermione of her thoughts. She saw him open his eyes and smile.

"Morning beautiful," he mumbled.

"Have you seen my hair? There is nothing beautiful about it this morning," Hermione laughed.

"You're always beautiful," he smirked.

"You are such a kiss up," Hermione said, kissing him on the lips.

"That's a nice way of waking up in the morning," he said sitting up.

"Well, we have classes this morning, so we might as well get up," Hermione said making her way to the bathroom.

Once Hermione got out of the shower, she got ready for the day. Once Draco was done with his shower he walked into his room to find a note from Hermione.

_Draco, _

_Sorry, but I missed dinner last night, so I went down to breakfast. _

_I Love You, _

_Hermione_

Draco made his way down to the Great Hall and saw Hermione sitting with Heather and Ginny. She looked up when he entered and smiled. He smiled back and went to sit with Blaise. Once Draco finished with his breakfast he made his way to Divination. He hated the class, but he had to take it. It was also a class without his Mione. The class went slowly for Draco and it got worse when he was paired with Pansy. She looked a little upset, but she smiled whenever she looked at Draco, though it was a hurt smile. He had asked her about the whole snogging session thing yesterday and she said she had no clue who would do such a thing.

After classes Draco ran from the tower so he could meet up with Mione, his Mione. He was past the picture of kittens playing poker when Pansy met up with him.

"Draco…..wait up," Pansy yelled chasing him down the corridor.

"Parkinson, not now. I don't have time," he yelled back, but waited for her none the less. She came up to him and tried to catch her breath.

"Draco…..I love you," she said.

"Ooooh, not this again," he sighed throwing his arms in the air.

"No, listen. I love you, but I'm not in love with you," she finished.

"Huh?" Draco asked quirking an eyebrow.

"I know you don't love me and I don't love you. We shouldn't be forced to marry just because our parents say we have to, right? Well, I just wanted to give you this back," she said pulling off the 14-carat diamond engagement ring he, well his father, had given her during the summer. She placed it in his hand and folded his fingers over it. She smiled up at him.

"If you love her, go get her," she said with an approving smile.

"Thank you, Pansy," he said.

Draco gave Pansy a hug and kissed her on the cheek. He was so happy. Little did they know that a pair of hazel eyes was watching them from the shadows.

Hermione had been walking out of Charms class when she saw Pansy and Draco. They were hugging and kissing. She couldn't believe it, Draco had cheated on her even after he told her he loved her. Her eyes began to swell with tears and she saw her love betray her. She couldn't believe it. She finally put some faith in him. She finally allowed herself to trust the guy that had hurt her for so many years and what happens. He cheats on her. She didn't know what to do except run back to her room.

* * *

Draco pulled out of the hug just in time to see Hermione running away. Realization dawned on him when he realized what she must have seen between him and Pansy. _Damn. I can be such an idiot sometimes_. He looked up to see her retreating figure running back to their common room.

"Pansy, I have to go," he said running down the corridor.

Pansy watched him leave. "Good luck Draco," she whispered.

Draco ran after Mione as fast as he could. He ran inside to the commons and seeing that she wasn't there, he looked in his room and was about to knock on her door when he heard Mione crying through the walls. He knocked on the door and the crying stopped. The door opened and when Mione saw it was him, she shut the door, but he was too quick for her and pushed the door open, so he could get in. Hermione ran to the other side of the room to get as far away from him as possible. She let the tears fall from her eyes as he came closer to her. He bent down so he was at eye-level and put his arms around her. She pushed him off and stomped away from him.

"Hermione, please don't try to pull away. Look, I know what you saw. But you don't know what it meant. Pansy and I were to be married, you've known that and yet you still started a relationship with me. Pansy knows how I feel about you, so she met up with after class to talk to me. She gave me back the engagement ring that my father gave to her. I was in shock because that meant that I could finally be with you…forever. Hermione I love you more then anything. I would never hurt you…intentionally. I promise."

He sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, letting her lean into him. He wiped away her tears and held her close. "Draco, what happens when your father wants you to take the Dark Mark?"

"I would never take the dark mark. Ever. I will never become like my father. I would rather perish then follow in his footsteps. You have my word Hermione, I will never take the dark mark," Draco turned her head, so he was looking directly in her eyes.

She couldn't believe it. In one minute, he had managed to wipe away every ounce of anger and frustration she had felt towards him and turned it into unbarring love for him instead. She took his face in her hands and pulled him down above her and kissed him. He encircled his arms around her waist as she brought her arms around his neck. She kissed him with all the love she felt for him. He kissed her back with much more. She entangled her hands into his hair as his hands roamed her body. Draco finally broke the kiss and Hermione gave him a confused look.

"What?" she asked.

"Hermione, I want to give you something. I know it might seem a little soon, but with everything that you and i Iave been going through, I just feel like this is the right thing to do," Draco pulled out a small object and slid it onto Hermione's finger.

Hermione looked down at the ring that was set upon her finger. It was a 4 carat princess cut diamond on top of a white gold band. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. She looked confusedly at the ring as she moved her finger over the diamond.

"What's this for?" Hermione asked as she finally looked up at him.

"This," he said taking her hand in his. "is a promise ring. It signifies that from now on, I will never hurt you. I will never harm you or put you in harm in any way. I will always love you. I will always protect you. And I will always be here for you," Draco said as he kissed her hand.

Hermione smiled at him and she gave him a kiss on the lips and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a hug.

Draco gave her one last kiss on the lips and they left her room to go down to the Great Hall for dinner.

* * *

Huge thanks to Ashlee Simpson for L-O-V-E

SammieJ


	10. Your Beautiful

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 10- Your Beautiful_

* * *

_My life is brilliant.  
My love is pure.  
I saw an angel.  
Of that I'm sure.  
She smiled at me on the subway.  
She was with another man.  
But I won't lose no sleep on that,  
'Cause I've got a plan._

_You're beautiful. You're beautiful.  
You're beautiful, it's true.  
I saw your face in a crowded place,  
And I don't know what to do,  
'Cause I'll never be with you._  
_-James Blunt_

The girls were lounging out in the Head's common room with their boyfriends. Draco had his arms wrapped around Hermione while she sat on his lap with her head resting on his shoulder. Heather was sitting on the floor, leaning against Harry's legs as he sat on the chair. Annie was sitting on Blaise's lap smirking, while he nipped at her neck making her giggle. Pansy was sitting on the arm rest of Ron's chair playing with his hair.

That was the thing that surprised everyone. Not a month after Pansy had given Draco back the ring, did Pansy walk into the Great Hall with her hand firmly implanted in Ron's. Everyone was shocked to say the least. They had just said that they liked each other. It was a bit odd, to be matter of fact. Seeing Pansy with Ron kind of scared a few people.

It had been a crazy month. According to Pansy, Ron had asked her to the ball and she had said yes. Now, does that qualify as boyfriend and girlfriend or what? Anyway, their friends were all happy for them, of course. Ron and Pansy both seemed very happy and that was all that mattered really.

Now, the group was just lazily sitting in the Head's commons, waiting for the ball to start.

"I can't wait until the ball. It is going to be the best night of our lives," Heather exclaimed.

"Heather, I'm getting really worried. I mean, you said you have our dresses, but we don't even know what they look like. For all we know they could be slutty," Hermione said nervously.

"What's wrong with that?" Heather asked.

"I'll tell you what's wrong. Annie dresses enough as a slut. I don't want her in a dress like it," Blaise fumed. He received a slap across the face from Annie and was reprimanded for calling her a slut. Which he fully apologized for then began to make up to her by promising to buy her whatever she wanted at the next Hogsmeade trip.

"They can also make you girls get more attention than what we guys want," Draco said, holding tighter onto Hermione.

"You guys think that we'll look so hot tonight that we will leave you," Pansy said.

"Well….yeah," the four boys said in unison.

"I'm appalled at how little you trust us," Annie said.

"I can't believe you don't trust us. I mean, we love you guys and you think we will leave you so easily. I feel so unloved," Hermione shouted.

"Okay…we're sorry. We just find ourselves very lucky to have you girls as our girlfriends and we don't want to loose you," Draco spoke for the group.

The girls looked at each other skeptically before they shrugged and rested back against their man. Pansy decided to break the silence. Boys could be so stupid some times. "So I was wondering, what does your password mean?"

Hermione looked at Draco and smiled. "It actually changed after Draco and I started dating. The password is 'verbonden als een'. It means 'connected as one' in dutch."

All the girls sighed. "That is so sweet," Annie swooned.

Pansy glanced at the clock and realized that it was already past noon and that time seemed to be running out. "Hey, what time does the ball start?"

Ron checked his watch. "Well, it's about 2:00 right now and doesn't the ball start at 7:00 or so?"

"Yeah. The ball starts at 7 and goes until midnight," Draco answered. "We still have plenty of time."

Hermione's eyes shot open and leapt off his lap. "What are you doing?" Draco asked. He sighed. "You can't be serious." Hermione was yelling at the girls.

"We have got to get ready. Heather where are the dresses?" she asked.

Heather pulled out a purple suitcase. "Right here." Pansy and Annie ran to go get the make-up kits in their dorms.

"Hermione, we have five hours," Draco said.

"Exactly, we have barely enough time. You boys have to leave because we need this whole place for a dressing room," she said.

"Mione, I need to change too. This is also my room," Draco said.

"Fine, then go get your clothes and leave," she snapped.

When Draco came back down, he saw that the common room was empty, except for the girls, boys, and salons. "Now leave!" the girls snapped.

The boys kissed their ladies fare-well. "We'll see you all at the bottom of the stairs at 6:50 sharp," they said and left.

Heather clicked the button on her suitcase and it opened to show a machine with a rack on the side. There was a mini computer on it with pictures and names of dresses. Pansy was finishing setting up the make-up salon and Annie was taking care of hair. Heather typed in the dresses and four dazzling dresses flashed up on the screen.

"First hair, then make-up then dresses," Heather instructed. Next, she typed out something on her computer and then thirty or so people popped up in the room.

"Um….Heath, who are these people?" Hermione asked.

"These people are my personal hair, make-up and style crew. They will do our hair, make-up and get us fitted into our dresses. This is our hair stylist Monique," she said pointing to a pretty dark red head with dazzling blue eyes and a very slim body that any girl would kill for, plus curves. "And this is our make-up stylist, André," she said pointing to a hot guy with muscles and a smile that would melt any girls heart. "I know that it is also kind of stupid to do this the muggle way, but it is also so much more fun. Don't worry, they are just like holograms. Except they can actually touch solid objects. They'll be gone when their done."

"Bien dames. Nous obtiendrons commencés par les cheveux parce que les cheveux sont tout et sans cheveux, vous ne sommes rien. Ainsi qui veut aller d'abord?" André said in a snobby tone.

The girls looked confused. "Oh! Andre only speaks French. He said 'Alright ladies. We will get started with the hair because the hair is everything and without the hair, you are nothing. So who wants to go first?'" she said.

"I will," Hermione said.

"Pourquoi ne pas nous faire tous en même temps. Que nous obtenons faits plus rapidement, mais jeûnons aussi ou nos vies seront ruinées." Heather said gesturing between her and her friends.

"Oui," he said. He clapped his hands and the girls were put on chairs to begin. After 3 hours of working on the girls' hair, they were onto make-up. Hermione's hair was curled, with the top half pinned up, and the bottom half was rolled into a French twist and they added a diamond brooch on the bottom.

Heather's had an upside down French braid in her hair, her hair was put in a pony tail, and strands in the front were twisted and bobby-pinned into the pony tail. The rest of her hair was curled; they added a few hair jewels as well.

Pansy's hair was curled and then put in a ponytail, they pinned up sections of her hair and then added a few jewels to finish the look.

Annie's hair was first curled with rollers, once they were taken out her hair was totally curly, next they put it into a half ponytail and to back turn it until it made a type of bun on her head. They next decorated her hair was jewels that matched her dress.

The next thing was doing the girls' make-up. When the girls were done with that, it hardly looked like they had make-up on at all, but they did look stunning. They all had shimmer on their cheeks that made their faces brighten like the noon day sun. The final task was the dresses.

The girls went over to the machine. Heather asked for Hermione's dress first. A beautiful dress came out onto the rack and the machine began to speak. "This sexy printed dress features bright, bold colors made classic by the contrast of ivory and white; featuring a halter top and a criss-cross back," Hermione squealed with delight at how beautiful the dress was. She even loved the open toe four inch black pumps.

Next came Annie's dress. The machine spoke once again. "Every woman needs this little number. This flattering style has a slight v-neckline, an empire waist and a sexy mini length. Embellished with sequins and metal studs, this dress will have you looking like a star." Annie added a pair of silver strappy four inch heels to match.

Next, was Pansy's dress. "This classic purple cocktail dress had an embellished halter strap, a faux wrap pleated bodice and a jewel accented empire waist. The light airy skirt will flatter your frame and the mid-thigh length adds more sex appeal." She added a pair four inch black open toe heels.

The final dress to come out was Heather's. "This stunningly sexy emerald dress has a sleek fitted shape to show off your curves. The pleated bow bodice is embellished with a rhinestone pendant. The halter ties off at the neck letting the stunning cut out take center stage." Heather added a pair of silver strappy heels that criss-crossed across the tops of her feet.

Andre slipped the dresses on to the girls because he didn't want their hair or make-up to be ruined. The girls were finally ready for the ball.

"Ah ! Mon ça alors quelles beautés ils tous sont. Je n'ai jamais vu une telle beauté. Et vous Monique ? Ah ! Je souhaite que j'aie eu des filles, que je pourrais les habiller, fais leurs cheveux, et maquillage. Ils seraient les plus beaux. Mais ce soir, ces dames seront les plus belles à la boule ce soir. Je vous donne mon mot!" Andre said.

The girls turned to Heather. "What did he say?" they asked.

"I don't know," she said. "I didn't catch it all."

The girls looked astounding in their dresses. Monique took their pictures while they posed and when pictures were done, Heather snapped up the purple suitcase and Monique, Andre and the other people vanished.

The girls made their way down the marble staircase to the great hall, at the bottom of the stairs stood Harry, Ron, Draco, and Blaise. They each wore black dress robes and each of the ladies thought her man looked fantastic.

Hermione went down first. Draco heard the tapping of heels and turned around to see his Mione. His jaw dropped. Her dress was grogeous and she looked stunning. She smirked as she came over to him.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"You look sexy Mione," he replied huskily in her ear. He put his hands on her waist.

"Thank you, but if you keep moving your hands, your father will be the only Malfoy left who can reproduce," she warned. She noticed his roaming.

"Sorry," he said.

Heather came down next. Harry saw her and he froze. He saw what she was wearing and let's just say he was not pleased.

"Hey," she said.

"I'm not fond of that dress," he said.

"Really, I picked it out especially for you," she said with a puppy dog pout. "You know, to match your sexy eyes."

"Alright, you can wear the dress, but please don't wear ever again, unless for me, promise?" he asked.

"Alright, I won't wear for anyone, but you," she said. She gave him a knowing look and saw him blush slightly.

He gave her a kiss on the lips and they stood by Draco and Hermione.

Pansy and Annie decided to walk down together. Ron and Blaise turned to see them. Ron smiled when he saw Pansy. He went over and gave her a kiss.

"You look radiant," he whispered.

"Thank you," she said.

"I'm very glad you said yes to me," he said, still in a whisper.

"I'm very glad I did too," she gave him a smirk.

He smiled and they went to join the others.

Blaise looked disapprovingly at Annie's dress.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked innocently.

"What the hell are you wearing?" he asked.

Annie sighed. "Blaise I like this dress and if you want I will this once wear your jacket," she said.

Blaise was about to take off his jacket when Annie stopped him. "But not now. I will wear it later. Like after an hour, alright?" she said.

Blaise nodded and the group walked into the Great Hall to a loud applause.

* * *

A/N: If any of you wish to see the girls dresses I put the url's below. The site is where I usually find dresses. So, if any of you like the dresses you see, feel free to use the site. They have all kinds of dresses.

Dedicated to black wolfgirl2722, who sent me the most flattering and nicest review I have ever gotten.

The links for the dresses are on my profile.


	11. Christmas Ball

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 11- Christmas Ball_

* * *

"I would like to give the Head Boy and Girl grateful congratulations on the wonderful decorations of the Great Hall. They did an amazing job planning this ball and they deserve a round of applause." The ball was filled with the sounds of clapping, whistling, and hollering. Dumbledore smiled upon the couple and after a few minutes, he raised his hands for silence. "Now, will the heads please start the ball?" Music began to play in the background. Draco and Hermione made their way to the middle of the dance floor. Draco put his arms around her waist and Hermione put her arms around his neck. Hero by Enrique Inglesia started.

Draco looked down at Hermione and smiled. He began to sing along as the music played just loud enough for her to hear. "Mione?" Hermione looked up at him. "Let me be your hero," he whispered.

_Would you dance if I asked you to dance?  
Would you run and never look back  
Would you cry if you saw me crying  
Would you save my soul tonight?_

Would you tremble if I touched your lips?  
Would you laugh oh please tell me these  
Now would you die for the one you love?  
Hold me in your arms tonight?

Hermione smiled up at Draco as she remembered the song from her summer. She had caught her mom and Fernando dancing to it, when she had gone up to bed. She laid her head against his chest as he sang. He tightened his grip around her. Harry took Heather out onto the dance floor and wrapped his arms around her. Ron and Pansy came out, as well as Blaise and Annie. They began to dance to the song. More couples came out onto the dance floor. Harry looked over at Mione and they made eye contact. He mouthed 'Are you okay?' Hermione nodded. Harry smiled and looked down at Heather. Hermione looked up at Draco and gave him a kiss on his chin. He looked down at her and kissed her lips.

"You are amazing, you know that," he whispered.

_You can take my breath my breath away  
I can be your hero_

The song ended and Draco took Hermione over to one of the tables. He kissed her hand and told her he would be right back. Heather, Annie, and Pansy joined Hermione at the table.

"Hermione, I give this ball a thirty on a scale of one to ten," Heather said.

"Thank you, girl," Hermione said. Just then the boys arrived with butter beers in hand. They passed them out and took seats next to their girlfriends.

Hermione looked out on to the many couples dancing. She spotted Ginny being twirled by Dean. She had always known that they would make a cute couple. Hermione then noticed something that confused her. Dean roamed his hands down to Ginny's butt. Ginny moved his hands back to her back. His roamed back down and Ginny moved them back up. He did this two more times and each time Ginny got madder. Finally, Dean pulled Ginny to him and began to grind into her. She finally pushed him away and stomped off.

Hermione shook it off. Ginny could take care of herself. Hermione excused herself, so she could check up on Ginny just to be on the safe side. She found Ginny by Luna and the two of them were conversing about classes.

"Hey Ginny, are you okay? I saw what happened with Dean," Hermione said resting her hand on Ginny's arm.

"Yea, I'm fine Hermione. Don't worry. I'm just going to hang out with Luna for now." Ginny smiled to reassure Hermione.

She nodded. "Alright, well then I'll be getting back to Draco and the others. Feel free to join us on the dance floor. We're going to give a surprise to the guys before the night is over."

Luna and Ginny smirked as they knew what Hermione meant and nodded. The two of them headed off to get a butterbeer and left Hermione to go back to Draco and the rest of the gang.

The final song came on and Hermione looked at Draco. Pansy, Annie, and Heather heard the music and stared at the boys with evil grins. "What?" the guys asked.

"Now, it is our turn," they said and pulled the boys to the middle of the dance floor. Everyone made room for the group and watched as the girls began to dance to the song as the boys watched with eyes wide and mouths open. Hermione twirled and swung around with Heather making a lot of guys whistle. Annie and Pansy were doing some dance that made one guy drop dead in a faint.

_What's goin' you sexy, and you don't care what they say  
See everytime you turn around you screaming my name  
What's up you sexy and you don't care what they say  
See everytime you turn around you screaming my name_

The girls were swinging their hips from side to side as the music flowed out. They moved around their guys with smirks. They were practically giving their guys lap dances. Over summer, the girls had learned how to belly dance and now they were using that to their advantage. The guys couldn't believe that their ladies could dance so…what's the word…uh…dirty.

_But I ain't complaining  
We all wanna be famous  
So go ahead and say what you wanna say  
You know what it's like to be nameless  
When no one know what your name is  
Cause see when I was younger I would say_

Harry looked from Draco to Blaise to Ron.

"Can you believe what their doing?" Harry gasped.

"No," was the only response from the guys as they stared at their girlfriends.

_When I grow up I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies  
When I grow up I wanna see the world, drive nice cars, I wanna have grupies  
When I grow up,I wanna see me, me on TV, people know me, be on magazines  
When I grow up, freshly cleaned, number one chick, wanna step out on the scene_

The song ended, the girls were out of breath as they walked back to their guys. The guys were still in shock, so the girls pulled them out of the ball room and they all made their way back to the head's common room. The guys finally came out of shock when the girls came downstairs from Hermione's room, each wearing a pair a girl's boxers and one of their boyfriend's shirts. They had taken clothes up there before the ball.

"I can't believe that you girls can actually dance like that," Draco said.

"What can we say, we have moves that none of you have seen yet," Hermione said.

"Well, what ever you haven't showed us, we'll see tonight," Harry smirked

"Really," Hermione said as Draco pulled her on to his lap. Hermione giggled.

Blaise and Annie stood up. "Well, we're going to go get some sleep," they announced as they left the room. Heather turned back to the group with a smirk on her face.

"I bet fifty they don't," Heather spoke up.

"I bet a hundred they do," Hermione said.

Heather laughed.

"Why are you two making bets on this sort of thing?" Harry asked.

"Because it's fun," Pansy said. "And how else do you guys think we get our money?"

"You mean you do this all the time?" Ron gasped.

"Thanks Pansy, now we can't keep this up any more," Hermione said sarcastically.

Harry just shook his head. "I'm going to bed." Harry stood up and Heather followed. They both said good-bye and made their way back to the common room.

"I bet fifty that they make it to the common room," Pansy said.

"I bet a hundred that they are outside this door right now" Hermione said. She began braiding Pansy's hair as they started talking about the ball, all the dresses the saw, and the music they heard.

Ron got up. "We're going to bed," he said. He extended his hand to Pansy, who took it and they made their way out of the common room.

"Us too," Draco said.

Draco and Hermione headed into his room for the night. The minute the door closed Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips.

"Draco, tonight was the most magical night of my life," she whispered against his lips.

"Mine too," Draco responded as he sealed his lips against hers. Sparks flew through her veins as she felt Draco's tongue probe his way into her mouth, tasting her as he battled her for dominance.

He felt around until he found the hem of her shirt and tickled the soft skin underneath. Quickly breaking the kiss he removed the shirt and boxers letting them fall to the floor. Next, Hermione began to remove Draco's jacket and shirt before he even had time to blink.

Draco picked up Hermione bridal style as he continued the assault on her mouth. He laid her down on soft comforter, breaking the kiss and quickly removing his pants, so all he had on were his boxers. He climbed into bed and laid down beside Hermione, running his hand down her side.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked. She nodded.

Draco rolled on top of her and proceeded to devour her lips as he gently unhooked her bra and slid her panties down and onto the floor. The only thing that seperated the two of them was his boxers. Draco moved his hand so it was on top of her mound and found her ready for him. He quickly divested himself of his boxers and kissed Hermione once more on the lips.

"This is going to hurt," Hermione nodded and gripped onto his shoulders. Draco gently thrust into her and immediately felt her nails bite into his flesh. He kissed her everywhere he could reach and waited for her to get used to him. A soft thrust from her told her she was fine and Draco gently pulled out of her before sinking back in. He felt her walls tighten around him and it took every ounce of will power not to cum.

Hermione pleaded for him to go faster and as his thrusts became more erratic and he lost his rythm, the two of them fell to their desires and after a few more minutes they came together. As Draco rolled off Hermione, he wrapped as arm around her waist, kissed her forehead and fell asleep to her gentle breathing.

The next morning, Draco, Hermione, Blaise, Annie, Ron, Pansy, Harry, and Heather were all sitting under the tree by the lake. Blaise was drinking pumpkin juice and eating a croissant, seeing as he was always hungry and Annie had made him miss breakfast. Draco was laying his head in Mione's lap while she read a book. Harry was leaning against the tree with Heather sitting in his lap. Ron and Pansy were reading a muggle book called Pride and Prejudice. Hermione evilly grinned when she thought of what happened last night. She turned to Annie.

"So how far did you get?" Hermione asked Annie.

"What do you mean?" Annie asked.

"Oh my gosh. How far did you and Blaise get before you both caved and went at it," Hermione said. Blaise practically choked on the pumpkin juice he was drinking. Draco hit his head on Hermione's book as his head shot up from what she said. Harry jumped up, making Heather fall to the ground with a thump. Ron hit his head on a low tree branch when he heard Mione. "Hermione!" the boys said.

"Well, we didn't," Annie said slowly. "Really," Hermione gasped.

"Ha! Pay up, Hermione," Heather said. "Heather!" Harry gasped.

Hermione handed Heather fifty galleons.

"Please say that this isn't about that stupid bet you girls made last night," Draco asked.

"Then I would be lying," Hermione answered. "Heather how far?" she asked.

"Not past your common room. We got out the door and we were at each other, but we did get to the common room before it got too bad," she said. "Oh, god!" Harry groaned covering his beyond red face.

"Pansy, pay up," Hermione said. Pansy produced one hundred galleons and passed them over to Hermione. Pansy grumbled.

"Hermione what about you?" Annie asked. She wanted more money. She knew that not even Hermione could resist Draco.

"In Draco's room," she blushed.

"I knew it. Told you Pansy. Now, pay up."

Pansy passed eighty galleons over to Annie. Annie looked smug.

"Alright, now Pansy your turn. How far?" Annie asked.

"We got as far as the stairs," she said. Ron's face turned red.

"Alright, Annie what do I give you?" Heather asked.

"Fifty."

Heather passed over fifty galleons.

The boys rolled their eyes. The girls laughed as they counted their winnings.

"I can't believe you all made bets on how far you could get before you had sex with us," Draco said appalled at his girlfriend's behavior.

"Actually, we bet on how far we could get before you guys let your hormones get the better of you and went at us," Hermione said in a perfect British accent like Annie from the Parent Trap. The boys just mumbled to themselves and sat back.

* * *

a/n: I decided against a song to start because this already has enough. The songs weren't mine. So I give full props to Enrique Inglesia for 'Hero' and Pussycat Dolls for 'When I Grow Up'


	12. La La

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 12- La La_

* * *

_You can dress me up in diamonds  
You can dress me up in dirt  
You can throw me like a line-man  
I like it better when it hurts_

_Oh, I have waited here for you  
I have waited_

_You make me wanna la la  
in the kitchen on the floor  
I'll be a french maid  
Where I'll meet you at the door  
I'm like an alley cat  
Drink the milk up, I want more  
You make me wanna  
You make me wanna scream_

_-Ashlee Simpson_

No one had seen Hermione all day and they would be leaving for the train station in a few hours. People were already loading their stuff onto the train and Draco searched everywhere for Hermione. He finally gave up when the final whistle blew on got on the train. He sat with Blaise & Annie, Ron & Pansy, and Harry & Heather.

"Where's Hermione, Draco?" Annie asked.

"I don't know," he muttered.

He sat back and wished that Hermione was there. The train arrived at King's Cross and everyone got out. Blaise and Annie were going to spend their Christmas holiday with Draco. The three walked out of the barrier and walked over to Draco's limo. Charles, Draco's chauffer, put their things into the back of the car. Draco looked around, when he spotted a girl with brown hair standing beside a man and woman that looked similar. Hermione. Draco made his way over to them.

"Hermione," he said.

Hermione turned around with a look of shock in her eyes. "Draco….um what are you doing here? I thought you were staying at the school," she said.

"Change of plans," he said.

"Hermione, aren't you going to introduce us?" Hermione's mother said.

"Draco, this is my mother and her boyfriend Fernando," Hermione said gesturing between the three.

Hermione's mother went up to Draco and reached out her hand which Draco took. "Hi, I'm Jane," she said. "Pleased to meet you," Draco replied before giving her hand a small kiss.

"And I'm Fernando," The man said shaking Draco's hand.

The three apparently got off on the right foot because they were soon talking about what they were doing over break. Finally Blaise came up and Draco had to say good-bye.

"Well, that boy seemed nice, wasn't he the boy that you told us about?" Hermione's mother asked.

"Yeah, that was him," Hermione answered.

"You don't seem too happy. I thought you two were dating. What happened dear?" Fernando asked.

"Nothing, I guess I'm just tired," Hermione said.

The three piled into the car and drove off to home.

* * *

A week had passed and Hermione stilled hadn't had a chance to reply to any of Draco's letters.

"Draco, will you stop mopping. Come on dude," Blaise said.

"What?" Draco snapped.

"Annie and I are taking you out tonight. You need to shower, change into something for dancing, and meet up downstairs," Blaise said. He threw Draco's green silk shirt and black pants onto the bed before walking out. "Oh! By the way, if you're not down in twenty minutes, I'm coming up here and dragging your butt down."

Draco showered and changed into his green silk shirt and black pants. He walked downstairs and he, Blaise, and Annie apparated to the club.

* * *

Hermione sat in her room playing with her locket. Draco had given it to her for Christmas, before the ball. Inside was a picture of them together. She had been spending so much time with her mom and Fernando, she hadn't had a chance to answer any of Draco's letters. She had been doing last minute shopping and meeting with old friends. Hermione didn't even notice Heather come in until she jumped on top of her.

"Hey Hermione," she said.

"Hi." Hermione really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. All she wanted to do was close the blinds, turn out the lights and go to bed. She had been really tired lately, but she chalked it all up to stress.

"Are you coming to the club tonight or what?" she asked.

"No," Hermione answered.

"Nope, wrong answer. Now get off your butt and get showered and changed, before I throw you into the shower and drag your sorry butt to the club myself," Heather snapped getting off the bed and heading downstairs.

Hermione got up from her window seat and pulled on her favorite pair of black sevens jeans hip huggers. She then pulled on the dress her cousin gave her and tapped her waist with her wand. The dress shortened until it was just above her bellybutton. The color instantly changed to black as well. Hermione put on a smile, well a fake smile, but still a smile and went out of her room to meet up with Heather. While Hermione's back was turned, Heather changed Hermione hair so it was flat and fell down in silky smooth waves. The girls apparated to the club and went over to the bar to get some drinks.

Hermione was on her second drink when she felt arms around her waist. She turned around and saw her old muggle friends Blithe, Carmen, Sage, and Harper. The five had been friends since they were young. When Hermione got accepted to Hogwarts, she had promised to stay tight with them. She only told them she was going to a boarding school in France. So every summer when she returned, it was like she never left. They would spend hours together, gossip and they even had a band. Blithe played drums, Carmen and Sage on guitar, and Harper on bass. Hermione was lead singer. They had started the band a year before Hermione went off to Hogwarts. The group had a few of their own songs, but they were still a work in progress, so they sang songs either requested or because they liked the songs.

Hermione could see the knowing looks in their eyes and wondered what they were up to. "So Hermione, one last time? Please we haven't seen you in forever," Sage begged.

"You mean, to play?" Hermione asked. "Are you serious?"

The four nodded. Hermione smiled and said yes. She needed something to get her mind off all the stress that had been accumulating the last few days. They went back stage to tune their instruments and they got ready for their debut.

* * *

Draco noticed when he arrived that Harry & Heather were there as well as Ron & Pansy. He turned on Blaise and Annie with a venomous glare.

"What the hell is going on?" he hissed.

"Draco, we just wanted to get you out of the house, besides there is going to be a new band tonight. Their called Black Rose and they are one of the best muggle bands ever," Blaise commented. "You'll love them. Heather says their the best and besides, you needed to have some fun and get out of the house."

Draco sat at the bar and fumed. The others dragged him to a table and they sat down waiting for the band to come on stage.

* * *

The curtains opened and on stage stood the drummer, bass player, and guitarists. Hermione walked out on stage and stood in front of the microphone set out for her.

"Hermione," Draco whispered. The others looked to where he was looking and saw Hermione. The only one who wasn't surprised was Heather.

"Hi everybody. I'm Hermione and I'm lead singer of Black Rose. On drums we have Blithe, bass is Harper, and our guitarists are Carmen and Sage. Our first song is Bleeding Love. I hope you enjoy," Hermione said. The crowd clapped as the music began to play out.

Hermione stepped up to the microphone and began to sing.

_But something happened  
For the very first time with you  
My heart melted into the ground  
Found something true  
And everyone's looking 'round  
Thinking I'm going crazy_

The crowd rose up and began to clap to the music. Draco stared up at his girlfriend as she took the microphone from its stand and started walking around stage strutting her stuff. Hermione was really getting into the song now. She started walking around and rocking with Corinth. They swayed back to back with each other before Hermione started going up to the front.

_But I don't care what they say  
I'm in love with you  
They try to pull me away  
But they don't know the truth  
My heart's crippled by the vein  
That I keep on closing  
You cut me open and I_

Hermione put her hand on her heart and pretended to tear it out. She looked out over the crowd, pointing at some random guy before turning around and walking back. Hermione ended the song with a bow, flipping her hair over her face. She came back up with a smile on her face. The crowd cheered as she blew them all kisses.

"That song was Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis. Our next song is another one of our favorites. It is called You Raise Me Up, so I hope you like it. We dedicate it to our parents and all our loved ones."

_When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;  
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;  
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,  
Until you come and sit awhile with me._

She finished the song and the crowd cheered. Everyone cheered, especially Draco and the others. Sage, Carmen, Blithe, and Harper were about to walk off stage when Hermione spoke once again into the microphone.

"Alright, I have one more song for you all. Don't worry ladies, you don't have to be instruments, I have the guy back stage with my mix. Anyway, I want to dedicate this next song to the love of my life, Draco Malfoy. It's called I'll Love You by Donna Lewis," Hermione finished.

A stream of soft music flew over the crowd as Draco turned toward Hermione.

_Feels like ... I'm standing in a Timeless Dream ...  
of Light Mists ... of pale amber rose  
Feels like ... I'm lost in a Deep Cloud of Heavenly Scent  
Touching ... Discovering You ...  
Those days ... of Warm Rains come rushing back to me_

Hermione smiled out into the crowd as she poured out the lyrics. The crowd stared at her and began to rock back and forth along with the music.

_Miles of windless ... Summer Night Air ..  
Secret moments ... shared in the heat of the afternoon  
Out of the Stillness ...  
Soft spoken words ..._

The screen in the background started to show Hermione and Draco together. They were in the library together, they were by the lake, they were in class together. Everyone in the crowd 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at the right times as each picture slide went by.

_I Love You Always Forever Near and Far Closer Together  
Everywhere I Will Be With You Everything I Do for You_

_I Love You Always Forever Near and Far Closer Together  
Everywhere I Will Be With You Everything I Do for You_

Hermione finished the song and the crowd cheered loudly for Hermione. She got down from the stage and went over to her band mates. Carmen handed her a drink as she gave her a hug. "That was so awesome Hermione."

"Hermione?" Hermione turned around to see Draco standing there.

"Draco," Hermione gasped as she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"Can we talk somewhere private?" Draco asked as he pulled away. Hermione nodded as she waved good-bye to her friends and walked into the back room, pulling Draco along. She cast a locking and silencing charm on the room, so no one would disturb them.

"I didn't know you were going to be here," Hermione said as she stared at him.

"I'm pretty much guessing that Heather brought you here right?" Hermione nodded. "I think our friends brought us here."

"I'm really sorry Draco," Hermione whispered.

"I don't want to talk about that right now. I just want to hold you," Draco said as he pulled her into a huge hug.

"You are amazing, you know that," he whispered.

"Yes, but I love hearing it," she whispered.

Draco pulled away, looking into her hazel eyes. Hermione had barely time to breath before Draco's lips were upon hers. It put Hermione in shock before she wrapped her arms tighter around him and kissed him deeply. She had missed this. His kisses, his touch, his everything. She pulled away from Draco and stared at him shaking her head.

"Hermione, what is it?" Draco asked, worried about his girlfriend's behavior.

"You might get away with that in the bedroom, but not here," she said.

He looked her up and down with a smirk. "Oh really." He leaned forward, pressing her against the wall and pressed his lips against hers. She smirked into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. She nibbled at his bottom lip before flicking her tongue over it. She moved her tongue into his mouth and coaxed his into battle, fighting each other for dominance.

"I love you Hermione," Draco whispered against her lips.

"I love you too," She whispered back. Pressing one last kiss to his lips, she pulled away. "Now, come on…we need to get back to our friends."

Draco groaned as he let her lead him out of the room.

* * *

a/n: I'm amazed I could write a happy chapter. I just saw United 93 and it really made me sad. I also want to point out that the next chapter will also be upsetting, but don't worry. Chapter 13 will be happy.

I want to thank xbeautifullybrokenx for telling me about the error I made in this chapter.

Thank you so much my reviewers. I want to give a shout out to Leona Lewis for her songs 'Bleeding Love' , Donna Lewis for 'I'll Love You' and Josh Groban for 'You Raise Me Up'.

Props go to Ashlee Simpson for La La


	13. Goin Crazy

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 13- Goin Crazy_

* * *

_Ever since the day you went away and left me lonely and cold  
My life just hasn't been the same ohh baby, nooo  
When I looked into your eyes the moment that I let you go  
I just broke down (down)_

Baby if I ever get the chance to be with you again I would sacrifice  
Cuz the feeling that I feel within  
No other man would ever make me feel so right  
Its nice to smile when I get your phone call at night  
But I'd rather have you here with me, right next to me  
I miss the way you hold me tight

_-Natalie_

Hermione was on the train headed back to Hogwarts. She hadn't been able to spend much time with Draco at all or even Blaise, Harry, Ron or even the girls. She had been so busy helping her mom around the house and getting to know her step-father, that she hardly had time to herself.

Hermione was in a compartment with the other girls. They were each talking about their break. They had chosen to get another compartment when the guys had started playing exploding snap and telling ridiculous jokes. They began relaxing when the door was slammed open and the guys came barreling in.

"We were wondering where you girls went off to," Harry said as he stepped over the girls legs to sit by Heather.

The girls rolled their eyes. "We came in here to escape you all," Heather said jokingly.

"Yea, now what are we supposed to say to our other boyfriends when they get here," Hermione sighed sarcastically. The other girls laughed as the boys looked at them sulking.

"That's not very funny," Draco snapped as he pulled Hermione into his lap.

"I find it hilarious," Hermione giggled. "Awww…you know I love you and only you."

"You best believe it," Draco growled before capturing her lips in his. Hermione giggled as he slipped his tongue into her mouth, stroking hers.

"Hey you two, get a room," Blaise snapped as he watched his two friends going at it.

"Don't mind if we do," Draco announced, pulling Hermione up.

"Draco, sit down. We are not going anywhere," Hermione said as she sat back down and crossed her arms. "Your sex-drive can wait a few hours."

"No it can't. It was painful enough during Christmas break. You know, it can be damaging to a man to go that long without sex. Seriously, I could become permanantly sterilized," Draco said. He was dead serious.

The others laughed as Draco sulked as he fell against the seat. Hermione kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry, babe. I promise that once we're alone I'll make it all up to you."

Draco smirked and pressed a kiss to her lips. Once the train stopped, the group got off the train. Hermione and Draco headed up to their rooms to unpack their things and for Hermione to make good on that promise.

Later that night, the couples got together for dinner. They wanted to spend the rest of the evening together before classes started. Over Christmas break, Dumbledore had transfigured the Head dorms into one huge room. Draco was shocked, but very pleased, especially when he pulled Hermione in there. Hermione had also been in shock, but found it very nice indeed.

That night, once everyone had left the Heads' commons, Hermione and Draco had headed up to their bedroom. Hermione went into the shower and came back into the room, while Draco walked in. Once he walked out he found Hermione lying in bed in his boxers and t-shirt. He smirked and pulled on a pair of boxers and climbed in behind her.

* * *

The next day classes were already beginning and Hermione walked down the halls with Heather. The two of them were just coming back from the library during lunch. They had been looking up ingredients and their purposes for the potions essay that was due the next day.

"I'm telling you that the salamander blood is added before the unicorn horn powder," Hermione said. "Otherwise the potion will be useless."

"Hermione, the blood comes after the powder," Heather said. "Otherwise the potion will combust."

"It is so not. You'll get marked off if you write th-" Hermione started, but Heather put her hand over her mouth and pulled her against the wall. Finally, she removed it.

"What was that about?" Hermione whispered.

"Look," Heather pointed around the corner.

Hermione turned around the corner and saw Ginny making out some dude from Ravenclaw. Hermione bit her lip to stifle her gasp. She was in shock. She knew that Ginny was having problems with Dean, well ever since the holiday dance. The two had been fighting lately and had even been seen during a few of their battles.

But this went above and beyond. As far as Hermione knew, Ginny was still with Dean, not even Annie knew. And of course Annie was the Hogwarts gossip, she knew everything about everybody.

Hermione motioned to Heather to follow her. She led them to a small alcove where they hid.

"I can't believe it. Ginny and a Ravenclaw. Not that I'm complaining, I mean that guy was hott. But isn't she still with Dean," Hermione muttered, trying to keep her voice as low as possible.

"I know, I say we go ask Annie. If anyone would know, it's her. Come on, we need to get to Charms. We'll meet up with her at dinner," Hermione nodded and the two them skipped down to Flitwick's class.

* * *

Later that night, Hermione headed off to the library to finish off her homework. Draco had gone to sleep early and she had snuck out once she knew he wouldn't wake up. Since she was Head Girl, she was allowed after hours and had an all access pass to the library at all hours.

She finished off her potions essay and began on her transfiguration homework. She must have spent hours on it because when she got to the end, she realized that she had no idea who invented one of the spells. She gave a sigh/yawn and went looking for the book that held the spell. She looked all over, until she took out her wand.

Casting a spell to lead her to the book, she found herself in a back corner of the library. She cast another spell to give the book a glow, so she could spot it. She looked up to see it was on the very top shelf and sighed. She grabbed the ladder and skidded over to the back. She climbed up and reached over for the book, except she couldn't reach. The ladder was all the way across the magical tracks, it wouldn't go farther. She moved as far over as she could and stretched for the book.

Just as her fingers skimmed the spine, the ladder tilted making Hermione hold on. She gasped as she felt the ladder become unsteady and she realized that one of the wheels had fallen off and was now balancing on one wheel.

She sighed and tried to climb down, only to realize that she couldn't without the ladder completely wobbling back and forth. She screamed when the ladder wobbled again. As she tried to climb down her foot slipped and she fell. She screamed as she fell to the ground and everything went black.

When she woke up, she found McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape all standing around her.

"Welcome back Miss. Granger," McGonagall smiled as he looked down at her with a twinkle in his eye.

"What happened?" She whispered.

"I found you in the back of the library. You apparently fell off the ladder and hit your head. You were bleeding from a severe head wound. You're lucky I was making my nightly rounds near the library when I heard you scream. I brought you here to be checked over," Professor Snape sneered as he looked down over his beaky nose.

"Thank you Professor," Hermione said as she fell back in unconsciousness.

* * *

a/n: I know that this is a short chapter, but I just was having a writer's block. Anyway, I promise chapter 14 soon. And I also promise updates on all other stories.

Huge thanks goes to Natalie for her hit song Goin Crazy. And I sure am.

Sammie~J


	14. Mr Brightside

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 14- Mr. Brightside_

* * *

_Coming out of my cage  
And I've been doing just fine  
Gotta gotta be down  
Because I want it all  
It started out with a kiss  
How did it end up like this?  
It was only a kiss  
It was only a kiss_

Now I'm falling asleep  
And she's calling a cab  
While he's having a smoke  
And she's taking a drag  
Now they're going to bed  
Now my stomach is sick  
And it's all in my head  
But she's touching his chest now  
He takes off her dress, now  
Let me go

_-The Killers_

Draco woke up and moved his arm over to encircle Hermione's waist, only to find that the bed was empty. He shot up, using his arm to support his weight as he looked for Hermione. He jumped out of bed and pulled on his uniform. He looked in the bathroom and common rooms and couldn't find her. He headed towards the library, but she wasn't there either. He headed down to the Great Hall where he found Heather and the other Gryffindors eating breakfast. He walked over and tapped Heather on the shoulder.

"Hey, have you seen Hermione. She wasn't there this morning when I woke up," Draco explained.

"No, we haven't seen her. She could be in the library-"

"No, I already checked there. She's not there. I'm getting really worried," Draco bit his lip. Just then McGonagall came up behind him.

"Mr. Malfoy I need to speak with you," Draco nodded and followed McGonagall out the double doors. "Mr. Malfoy, you will need to take over Heads' duties for the next few days as Miss. Granger will be indisposed."

"What do you mean 'indisposed'? Is she okay? What happened?" Draco looked at the Professor.

"She was in an accident last night, but she is alright now. She is in the Hospital Wing right now if you wish to see her, but do not skip out on your classes."

Draco nodded and ran towards the Hospital Wing as fast as his feet could carry him. When he arrived, he found Hermione sitting up in her bed, picking at the food that she had been given for breakfast.

"Hey," He announced his presence as he walked forward.

Hermione looked up and smiled. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. What happened? McGonagall said you had been in an accident," Draco walked over and sat on the edge of her bed.

"The ladder gave way while I was reaching for a book. My foot slipped as I was climbing down and I fell, hitting my head. Professor Snape found me and said I had bled from a head wound and he heard me scream when he was doing his nightly rounds," Hermione explained as she took a bite of her eggs.

"Wow, that's quite a bump on your head." Draco said as he ran his fingers over her head. "So, when are you getting out of here?"

"I don't know. Madam Pomfrey said I have to stay here until the wound on my head heals and all my blood is replenished. But she can't fix my head because she doesn't want to…I don't know. It's complicated. So, what's going on?"

"Well, no one knows you're here. So if you want, I'll let Heather know," Draco said.

Hermione nodded. "Yea, that's a good idea. You can let Heather know, that way she doesn't get mad at me when she finds out from someone else."

Draco nodded and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I have to get to class, but I'll come by during lunch. Most likely Heather and the others will be with me."

Hermione nodded. "Now scoot. Before you're late."

Draco laughed as he headed out.

* * *

By lunch, the whole school knew about Hermione. The girls had to be restrained until lunch, so they wouldn't go storming up to the Hospital Wing. When the entire group had assembled outside the Great Hall before lunch, they made their way towards the Hospital Wing.

"Okay, so we should be quiet. I don't want Hermione to freak out or anything. Besides with Madam Pomfrey, you know she'll be mad if we make too much noise," Draco explained as the group got to the double doors.

"Wait! Let the girls go first. That way, Hermione isn't overwhelmed by a huge crowd," Harry suggested.

The others nodded and the girls walked inside. They bounded over to Hermione, who was still in her bed.

"Hey Hermione," Heather said.

"Hey girls. What's up?" Hermione asked.

"Not much. Just hanging out and you know, talking to you. Um…so are you okay?" Annie asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Madam Pomfrey says I have to stay here for the week."

"Do you want us to bring you your homework?" Heather asked.

"That's okay. Draco's taking care of it for me, since we have the same classes."

"Hey Hermione, don't you and Draco have to plan that Spring Fling dance or whatever this week?" Pansy said.

"Oh my gosh, I totally forgot. The dance is in like two weeks. There is no way that I'll get out of the hospital in time to help," Hermione groaned.

"Don't worry, Mione. I'm sure that Draco and the other prefects will be able to take care of the dance, even without your help," Annie said.

"Are you sure?"

"Heather, can you tell him, that if he needs any help at all on the Spring Fling dance, he can just come to me," Hermione said. "Just in case."

Just then there was a knock on the door and three heads popped in. "Are we ever gonna get to talk to her?" The girls giggled and gave Hermione hugs before leaving. Ron, Blaise, and Harry walked in and stood around Hermione's bed.

"Why is it that you always end up in the Hospital wing with massive blood loss and it always happens in the first week back to school?" Ron joked. Hermione glared at him.

"I guess it's too early for jokes then," he said sheepishly.

"So are you okay Hermione? Can we get you anything?"

"I'm good at the moment. Where's Draco?"

"He went back to the Common Room. He's already had his turn with you," Blaise said.

"What time is it?" Ron asked.

"Almost six."

"What? We're missing dinner guys," Ron said. All three looked at Hermione.

"You guys go on a head. You can visit me later," Hermione said.

The guys left the Hospital Wing and headed down to the Great Hall for dinner. Blaise said good-bye to Harry and Ron and went over and took his seat next to Draco. Harry and Ron took their seats next to Heather and Ginny. While the guys had been with Hermione, Heather had been informing Ginny about what had happened. Ginny was really upset when she heard, Hermione was afterall like her big sister.

"Hey," Harry said.

"Hey," Heather said giving him a kiss on the cheek. "So, how is our girl doing?"

"She's okay. She'll be out of the Hospital Wing at the end of the week, if she's lucky," Ron said.

"What do you mean 'if she's lucky'? She said that she would be out by the end of the week," Heather snapped.

"Yes, but according to Madam Pomfrey, it might be longer," Harry said.

"WHAT!?" Heather screamed. The entire Gryffindor table stared at her, as well as some others form the other tables.

"Heather, calm down," Harry hissed. "Madam Pomfrey just said that Hermione is still very weak and she needs some time before she can be up and about again."

"Whatever. I need to go talk to Draco. I'll be right back," Heather said getting up from the table, Harry grabbed her hand to stop her.

"What are you going to say? I know you Heather, please don't start a scene," he sid.

"I need to talk to him about the Spring Fling dance," she said before pulling out of Harry's grasp and walking over to Draco, who was in a deep conversation with Blaise. She tapped on his shoulder and when Draco turned around, his face fell.

"What did I do now?" he groaned.

"Hermione said, since she might not be out of the Hospital Wing for one to two weeks, that if you need any ideas or help with the Spring Fling dance that she will be more then willing to help," Heather said all in one breath.

"Oh, well thank you Heather," he said.

Heather walked back to her seat and sat beside Harry, who was loading food onto his plate for the second time.

* * *

It had been two days since that day. Draco was having a hard time with the prefects on trying to plan the Spring Fling. _I need Hermione for this. She always has the plans and stuff. This is just too hard. I need to go see her._

"Draco?" a voice sounded.

Draco came back to reality, only to find the prefects all staring at him.

"Uh…yeah," he said.

"I was wondering, what are we all doing for the Spring Fling?" Angela Thompson from Ravenclaw asked.

"Great question. Um…I am going to talk to Hermione tonight and I'll get back to you all tomorrow evening, same time, with your schedules," he said.

The prefects all got up and left. Just as Angela was leaving she murmured, "Why is he even Head Boy, if he doesn't have a clue on what he is doing?"

Draco rolled his eyes and packed up his things. Once he had everything cleaned up, he made his way to the Hospital Wing. When he got there, he found Hermione sitting on her bed with a book in her hands.

"Why is it that you always have a book with you wherever you go?" Draco asked.

Hermione looked up and smiled when she saw him. Draco walked over and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "What's up?"

"Not much. Just stuck in this hell hole. My god, I want out of here," Hermione snapped.

"I'm sorry, love. But um…we do have a dance to plan."

"Oh right. Angela left a while ago, complaining that you have the brain of a mouse and that Dumbledore must have been drunk when he made you Head Boy," Hermione laughed.

"Great, I'll have to thank her for that."

"Anyways, what do you need help with?" Hermione asked.

"Everything."

"Well, we first have to assign people to decorations, food, music, and setup/cleanup. So for prefects we have Hilary Muffling and Daryl Kaolin from Hufflepuff. They can be on decorations. We'll put Angela Thompson and Nathan McGregor from Ravenclaw on music. We'll have Corbin Rogers and Dash Morton from Slytherin on food. And our delightful Heather Owen and Seamus Finnegan on setup/cleanup. Also, the dance with be semi-formal, girls will not be allowed flip flops, jeans, t-shirts, or tennis shoes. They will however be allowed, skirts of all lengths, anything shorter than a mini is unacceptable. They may wear dresses, but nothing see through. As for guys, they can't wear jeans, but they may wear nice slacks and a nice shirt. I'm not saying go all out and wear a button down, but if they want to wear a t-shirt underneath and a nice button down over, that is fine. But no tennis shoes."

"Anything else?" Draco asked with a smile.

"I think that that is all."

"I have to agree with Angela. Why was I made Head Boy? Why is there a Head Boy, when the Head Girl plans it all?" he said.

"Because someone has to supervise," Hermione said.

"Well, I'm going to get going. I have to finish a Charms essay and get these schedules to the prefects. Night love," Draco said giving Hermione one last kiss before departing.

* * *

a/n: I love them and you probably love them too. Big round of applause to The Killers for Mr. Brightside.

Sammie~J


	15. Don't Cha

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 15- Don't Cha_

* * *

_Pussycat Dolls  
Ya see this shit get hot  
Everytime I come through when I step up in the spot (are you ready)  
Make the place sizzle like a summertime cookout  
Prowl for the best chick  
Yes I'm on the lookout (let's dance)  
Slow banging shorty like a belly dancer with it  
Smell good, pretty skin, so gangsta with it (oh, baby)  
No tricks only diamonds under my sleeve  
Gimme the number  
But make sure you call before you leave  
I know you like me (I know you like me)  
I know you do (I know you do)  
That's why whenever I come around  
She's all over you (she's all over you)  
I know you want it (I know you want it)  
It's easy to see (it's easy to see)  
And in the back of your mind  
I know you should be on with me (babe)  
-Pussycat Dolls_

A week had passed since Draco had last spoken or even seen Hermione. The previous week had been so hectic, from directing prefects, homework, patrolling, and meetings with Headmistress McGonagall. What was worse was, since the Spring Fling dance was only two days, Draco was practically getting hounded every minute. People were constantly coming up to him, asking him about the dance, and the worst part was girls coming up to him, asking him to be their date to the dance.

Hermione had decided on the Spring Fling dance being a Sadie Hawkins dance. Of course, the Heads were to go to all dances and events together, but seeing as Hermione would probably not be out of the Hospital Wing in time, girls were constantly asking him, as well as a certain Miss. Lavender Brown. Draco was being mobbed so much, that he actually resorted to using Harry's invisibility cloak and constantly asking Madam Pomfrey when Hermione would be out.

She kept telling him that Hermione might be out by Monday as long as she had no stress put on her. In Draco's opinion this was both good and bad. Good because Hermione would get healthier and that's all he wanted for her, but also bad because of the all the girls.

That night at dinner, the Heads were to make an announcement about the dance. But since Hermione was still cooped up in the Hospital Wing, it was up to him. Draco walked into the Great Hall and took his seat beside Annie and Pansy.

"You better watch out for Lavender, I heard she bought a fourth degree love potion from that Weasley joke shop last month," Annie whispered.

"Oh, great. Anything else," Draco hissed.

"Yeah. Don't take anything from her. A fourth degree love potion is bad enough when taken directly after purchased, but since it was a month ago, the potion must have strengthened," Pansy whispered.

The next few minutes were spent in silence as the feast was followed by dessert and then Draco walked up to the front of the Great Hall by the staff table. Headmistress McGonagall stood up and raised both her hands, calling for silence. Once the Great Hall fell silent she began. "Now, we have our Head Boy, Draco Malfoy here to answer any questions you might have about the upcoming Spring Fling dance. So please give him your full attention, because some of your questions might be answered without you even knowing it."

Draco looked over the sea of students. He looked over at the Slytherin students and saw some of them glaring at him. He noticed a sixth year Hufflepuff raising his hand. "Yes, what's your question?"

"I heard that this dance was a Sadie Hawkins dance, is that correct? And also, when does the dance start?"

"Well, to start, you are correct. This dance is a Sadie Hawkins, so ladies are the ones to ask the guys to the dance. So I'm sorry guys, but this time you're going to have to stand aside and let the girls choose. As for your second questions, the first through fourth years dance will be held from three to seven thirty. As for the fifth through seventh years dance, yours will be from eight to midnight. The dances will be held this Saturday after the Hogsmeade trip. Any other questions?" Draco asked.

This time a Slytherin seventh year stood up. "I was wondering, what was the dress code for this dance?" she asked.

"The dance with be semi-formal, so you may not wear jeans, t-shirts, or tennis shoes. You will however be allowed, skirts of all lengths, anything shorter than a mini is unacceptable. You can wear dresses, but nothing see through. As for you guys, you can't wear jeans, but you may wear nice slacks and a nice shirt. I'm not saying go all out and wear a tie and all that, but if you want to wear a t-shirt underneath and a nice button down over, that is fine, But no tennis shoes."

Next a Gryffindor seventh year stood up, coincidentally it was Lavender Brown. "I was wondering, are the Heads going to open up the dance like they did the Christmas ball?"

"Yes..." Draco said slowly, wondering what Lavender was thinking.

"But if Hermione is still in the Hospital Wing, what will you do then?" she smirked.

Before Draco could say anything, McGonagall stood up. "That is enough questions for now. All of you return to your dorms for the evening."

The students filed out of the Great Hall, the only ones that were left were Draco and the staff.

"Um…professor, what will I do if Hermione can't make it to the dance?" Draco asked, catching up to the Headmistress before she left.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy, I would say that if Miss. Granger can't attend the dance, you will have to open the dance yourself. According to Madam Pomfrey, Miss. Granger might not be out in time for the dance. Meaning that you will need to find a date," she said before walking off.

Draco nodded and decided to go see Hermione before it got too late. He made his way into the Hospital Wing and found Hermione staring out the window. Her head snapped up when she heard the doors close. Unfortunately she turned her head to quickly and ended up snapping her neck.

"You okay?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded. "No your not, move up." Draco got behind her and started to massage her shoulders, working out all the kinks.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Nice to see you too," Draco said sarcastically.

"Sorry."

"I'm here to see you before it got too late. And I was wondering if you would be able to get out of the Hospital Wing in time for the dance?"

"I don't know, it all depends on my health and stuff, why?" she asked looking over her shoulder at him.

"According to McGonagall, if you can't make it, I open the dance…alone." He whispered the last part, stopping the massage.

Hermione turned around to look around at him. "With who?"

"Whoever asks me?"

"Has someone asked you?" Hermione whispered.

"Hermione, I'm not going to say yes to anyone unless I know for one hundred percent certain that you will not be able to attend the dance," Draco said, giving her a kiss on her forehead.

"Alright," she sounded a bit better.

"I had better go before Madam Pomfrey yells at me," Draco said, before getting off her bed, giving her a hug and leaving the wing.

By the time Draco had reached the Heads common room, he noticed that Lavender was there. "You know I could give you detention and deduct house points for you being out past curfew," Draco hissed. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me?" she smiled.

"I told you, like every other girl that has asked me, I am not going with any of you, until I know about Hermione," he snapped before walking into the Heads common room, leaving Lavender outside.

* * *

It had been two days since then. It was the morning of the Hogsmeade trip. At about nine this morning, everyone would be leaving for Hogsmeade to get their dresses, shoes, make-up, robes, or whatever else. The Heads and prefects were allowed to go to Hogsmeade during the younger students dance, seeing as they would be decorating all day. Draco had already made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Everyone had pretty much already left so he was pretty much alone, except for a few stray students here and there. He had a quick breakfast and then noticed that Madam Pomfrey had come in. He ran over to her real quick.

"Madam Pomfrey, I was wondering if Hermione would be out of the Hospital Wing in time for the dance," Draco asked hopefully.

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss. Granger will not be able to attend the dance do to the fact that she is still weakened from the massive loss of blood," the Mediwitch said before scurrying up to the staff table for breakfast.

Draco sighed and started his way back out of the great Hall. Just as he was leaving, Lavender was coming in.

"Hi Draco. I heard about Hermione. So will you go to the dance with me, since she is unable to attend?" Lavender said.

"Whatever." Draco muttered before leaving a very excited Lavender behind. He made his way up to the Heads common room. He made his way into the common room, only to find the place completely empty. Well, actually, not empty, because there were make-up stands, hair salons, and a dress rack, plus about half the seventh year girl population. Girls were scurrying about with dresses, hair brushes, perfume, blush and eye shadow, jewelry, and flowers.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Draco yelled.

Every girl stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at him. Just then Heather and Pansy came running up front. Pansy was holding a brush and hair dryer in one hand and a comb and clips in the other. Heather's hair was slightly wet and she was carrying what looked like eight dresses, six pairs of heels and four jewelry boxes.

"Um… Draco, we were just using the common room to get ready for the dance," Heather explained.

"And you decided to invite half the female population in our year as well without my permission."

"Well, Hermione said it was okay," Heather said biting her lower lip.

"Well, no offense to her, but she isn't living here right now," Draco said through his teeth.

"Please Draco. Can we please use the common room for the dance? We're already all set up, pretty please Draco," Pansy begged.

"Alright, but can I please get my clothes for the dance before I get drowned in this mob of girls?" Draco groaned. "By the way Heather, shouldn't you be in the Great Hall setting up for the dance?"

Heather groaned and quickly put away what she had before running out of the room.

Draco grabbed his clothes and made his way to the Gryffindor common room. He already knew the password, so he just stepped inside. Harry and Ron were sitting by the fire. Draco made his way over to them and sat in the only chair left.

"Hey Draco, what are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"Almost every girl in the seventh year is using the Heads common room for a dressing room," Draco muttered.

"Oh yeah. Pansy, Annie, and Heather are all in there," Ron smirked. Just then Blaise came in behind a few fifth years.

"Hey guys, have any of you seen Annie?" he asked.

"No, but she might be in the Heads common room," Draco said. "Getting ready for the dance."

"Alright. Well, I'll see you guys later," just like that Blaise was gone.

"What is with him?" Harry asked.

"Don't know, but ever since last Hogsmeade weekend, he has been so different. He's had this goofy grin on for like ever. It is creepy," Draco said. "I'm gonna get going, I have to get started on decorations." As Draco left the common room, he realized something. _I didn't even see Annie in the commons. I wonder where she is. She is all about getting ready and being the hottest and making an entrance for social events._ Draco turned a corner and noticed one of classroom doors was open. He could hear two people in there as well.

One boy and one girl and from what it sounded like, they were in a heated snogging session_. I better go break it up_. Draco opened the door a bit more and his mouth fell open. He knew the boy instantly. He was Dash Morton the Slytherin prefect. What got him in shock was the fact that he was in a complete lip lock with none other then Antoinette Maryland. He closed the door silently and walked to the Great Hall in shock. When he got there, the prefects were all ready getting set up, well except Dash. Then he saw Blaise talking to Corbin from class. He was showing her something.

"Hey Blaise, I need to talk to you man," Draco called him over.

"Sure. But first I need to show you something." Blaise pulled out a small black velvet box. In side was a 5-karat princess cut pink diamond engagement ring. "I'm going to give it to Annie. I know it's early, but I love her, man. I want to spend the rest of my life with her."

Draco was in shock. _Should I still tell him? I could end up killing him_.

"So, Draco what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Blaise asked.

"Oh! Um…nothing. I'll see you later." Draco left the Great Hall was walking down the corridor when he spotted Annie and Dash walking hand in hand together. He made his way up to them. "Dash, you're late. Get into the Great Hall right now and get started on your section." Dash quickly ran away and Draco turned to Annie. She was in shock.

"I am disappointed in you Annie. How could you do this to Blaise?" Draco hissed.

"I…I don't know what your talking about," Annie tried to sound dignified, but her voice trembled.

"I saw you in a full on tongue wrestle with Dash Morton. Maybe you don't give a care about Blaise, but from what he just showed me, I'm pretty darn sure he's in love with you," Draco snapped.

"What do you mean?" Annie whimpered.

"I mean, Blaise just showed me a four thousand pound engagement ring that he was going to give to you, but maybe I should tell him about your little affair to save him the trouble," Draco snapped.

"Please Draco, don't. I love Blaise, I don't know why I did that with Dash, please don't tell Blaise. It won't ever happen again," she begged.

"Fine. Because he's my friend and I want to see him happy, but I swear if I catch you with another guy that's not him, you can kiss Blaise good-bye."

Annie walked away. "Annie, the others are getting ready in the Heads' commons, go ahead and join them." Draco called out after her.

_What did I get myself into?_

Draco asked himself as he walked back to the Great Hall.

_

* * *

_

It was about twenty minutes until the dance would begin. Draco was standing at the foot of the staircase with Harry, Ron, and Blaise. Blaise had told Harry and Ron about Annie and they couldn't have been happier. Draco had to force his smile when Blaise said it, all the while just praying to himself that Annie wouldn't do it again and he wouldn't get pummeled if Blaise found out. Draco had let the three guys know about Lavender. They were a bit shocked about it, especially Ron.

"I can't believe your going with Lavender Brown, of all people," Ron said.

"I know, but what else was I to do. She was the first to ask me and Madam Pomfrey told me that Hermione was doing better, but not well enough to go to the dance," Draco muttered.

"I still can't believe your going with her," he said.

Before Draco could respond, three girls had come up to them. Annie was on the left. She was wearing a tropical print stunning strapless dress with a square neckline, an embellished waist and a flared, flowing knee length skirt. The low sexy back had a lace up corset to give her body shape and make her look hot. She added gold strappy heels, but no jewelry. She thought the dress covered that.

Heather stood in the middle. She was wearing a pink champagne colored bubble dress. It had a pleated sweetheart top, spaghetti straps, an embellished empire waist and a mid-thigh length skirt with a flirty bubble hem. She added a pair of light pink dangle earrings, teardrop necklace and a pair of gold strappy heels.

Pansy stood on the right. She wore a strapless square neckline dress with a thick empire waist that slimmed down her waist. The full a-line knee length skirt was embellished with large gold polka dots. She was wearing a pair of three inch gold open toe pumps, gold ball dangle earrings and a gold ball necklace.

All three looked absolutely stunning. They not only turned the heads of their boyfriends, but other boys and receiving envious looks from girls. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase 'If looks could kill'. They made their way over to their boyfriends, each giving a kiss to the boys on the cheek. Draco noticed that Annie was giving him a broken look, as if saying 'Did you tell him?' he shook his head, she immediately brightened up.

Just then Lavender came bounding up. She threw her arms around Draco and kissed his cheek. He immediately wiped off his cheek with a look of disgust. Once he turned around he felt like he was going to hurl, not because she looked ugly, but because he had never seen anyone dress so sleazy in his life. Lavender wore a a white enticing little number. With adorable little spaghetti strap bow ties at the shoulders and a rhinestone embellished neckline. There were hald draped kimono sleeves and a slit over her stomach. The dress went mid-thigh and frankly, Draco thought she looked a little slutty. She was also wearing silver heels, earrings and a necklace.

"Well, I guess we should get into the Great Hall," Draco said trying to pry himself from Lavender's death grip on his arm. When the group got into the Great Hall, Draco and Lavender separated and went to the middle of the dance floor. Draco put his hands on Lavender's waist and kept her at arms length. Lavender smiled before pulling herself closer and wrapping her arms around his neck. At that moment the song Unfaithful by Rhianna come on the loud speakers.

_Story of my life  
Searching for the right  
But it keeps avoiding me  
Sorrow in my soul  
Cause it seems that wrong  
Really loves my company_

"Isn't this wonderful Draco? Now that that idiot Hermione is out of the way, you and I can be together. I mean, I knew all along it was a pity act just to get close to me. But now it's over, you and I can be together," Lavender whispered into his ear before kissing the side of his neck.

Draco pulled away and wiped his neck on his sleeve. "You know what Lavender-" Draco was cut off as the front doors opened. Draco turned around and he almost dropped dead. The music had stopped. The group of people in front of the doors had split apart only to reveal Hermione. She stood there with her hands behind her back and a smile firmly planted on her face. She wore a silk chiffon dress outfitted in a darling aqua paisley print with a scalloped neckline, the skirt flowed from the embellished empire waist with an uneven hem to create a layering effect. Draco started his way over to Hermione, when he felt a tug on his arm. He turned around to see Lavender holding his arm.

"Lavender, let go of my arm or you will pay," he hissed.

"But you're my date," she whispered.

He gave her a deadly glare and she let him go. Draco made his way over to Hermione. He stopped a few feet away from her. "Hey."

Hermione ran forward and wrapped her arms around his neck as he encircled his arms around her waist. He swung her around. Once he set her down she gave him the deepest kiss he had ever gotten from her since the Christmas Ball. Once she broke it, she gave him a hug.

"I've missed you so much. When did you get out?" he asked.

"An hour before the dance, but Madam Pomfrey said if I don't go easy the next few days, I'm back in the Hospital Wing. I found the girls in the common room and they helped me get ready. I told them not to tell you, I wanted to surprise you," Hermione said.

"Well, I hate to break up this reunion, but Draco and I have our dance to finish," Lavender stepped in.

"I thought Heads opened the dances. And since you're not a Head, Lavender, Draco and I have a dance to finish. You see Lavender, Draco went with you to open the dance, not because he wanted to. So, you can step off," Hermione smirked.

Lavender left with a huff and Draco pulled Hermione into the middle of the dance floor as the music began again. Hermione wrapped her arms around her neck and laid her head against his shoulder.

"So are you going to tell me why you took Lavender of all people to the dance?" Hermione whispered.

"Not likely. But did I tell you how sexy I think you are in this dress?" Draco hissed in her ear, making her giggle.

"No, but I thank you for the compliment," Hermione smiled. The song ended and the two made their way over to the table where Ginny sat. "Draco, can you go get me a drink?"

"Sure."

Hermione turned to Ginny. "Do you have a date?" Ginny turned to her after a moment as if she was in a trance before.

"Oh, Hermione. Sorry, I was out of it. No, I don't have a date. Remember the last time I came with someone," Ginny said.

"Well, Dean was a jerk. But I bet there is a guy out there that would love to dance with you."

"I will believe that when you show me him," Ginny said.

"Fine I will," Hermione said as she got up and walked over to Draco by the drink table. "I need your help."

"What is it?" he asked, looking at her confused.

"Ginny needs a date."

"Go ask Erik Hamilton in Ravenclaw, I happen to know he's got a crush on the little redhead," Draco said instantly.

"Perfect, does he have a date?" she looked at Draco. Hmm…I wonder if Erik is the guy that I saw Ginny making out with that one time?

"No."

Hermione smiled and walked over to a group of Ravenclaw seventh years. They were all talking over in the corner and when they saw Hermione coming close they froze. Hermione instantly noticed Erik. He had crystal blue eyes and dark brown hair. He had a nice smile and a good build, since he's the Ravenclaw quidditch keeper. He also had a good tan from the sun and his Irish Latin accent also made him even cuter.

"Hi, I was wondering if I could talk to Erik for a moment," Hermione smiled.

Erik immediately stepped forward and walked with her to another corner. "What is it?" he asked.

"I heard you have a crush on one of my friends."

"Well, I used to like Annie, but that's over. I don't need anymore black eyes," he said a little scared.

"Not that. I was talking about Ginny."

"Ginny. Well…yeah…I like Ginny," he said.

"Well, she doesn't have a date and I was wondering if you wanted to dance with her," she said.

"Is she okay with it?"

"How about this…I'll go talk to her and when I look over at you, you come over and ask her to dance?" Hermione said.

"Alright."

Hermione walked back to Ginny. "So do you like Erik Hamilton?"

"Why, what have you heard?" Ginny said in a rush.

"Chill Ginny. I just heard that he liked you." Hermione looked over at Erik and he started walking toward them.

"I like him, but I just don't know how to talk to him. I mean, I get nervous around him."

"You mean, like how you were around Harry before?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you better learn fast because Erik is coming this way," Hermione said.

Just then Erik came up to Ginny. "Hi Gin. Do you want to dance?" Ginny quickly looked at Hermione, Hermione jerked her head toward him.

"Sure." Ginny took Erik's offered hand and they made their way onto the dance floor. Just then Draco came back with a butterbeer and water. He handed Hermione the water, telling her she needed to relax.

"I'm so good."

"At what?" Draco said.

"At putting couples together." Hermione answered. "Like Annie and Blaise. I mean, they are so perfect."

"Yeah," Draco mumbled. "Let's dance." He took her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor. It was the middle of a song, but they didn't care.

_It's me and you, now  
I've been waiting (Waiting)  
Think I wanna make that move, now  
Baby, tell me if you like it (Tell me if you like it)  
It's me and you, now  
I've been waiting  
Think I wanna make that move, now  
Baby, tell me how you like it_

Draco spun her out and back in too quickly. "Draco, can we take a breather. I'm starting to feel woozy," Hermione gasped.

Draco nodded, pulling her toward a near by table. "I'll get you another water," he said. As he went over to the drink table again, a sixth year Slytherin came up to him.

"Draco, I was told to give this to you."

The boy handed him a small piece of parchment. He sighed as he recognized the Malfoy family crest. "Thanks." He put the parchment in his pants pocket and made his way back to Hermione. He handed her the water and sat beside her.

Annie and the rest of the girls all came to sit by Hermione. Draco left to go find Blaise and the other guys, so he wouldn't have to endure talk about boys, clothes, and hair.

"So, Hermione how are you doing? I mean, I just heard that you got out of the Hospital Wing," Charlie Minx said.

"I'm doing fine. It was like murder, being in that place for so long. I'm just glad I'm out of there…and that Madam Pomfrey said I was well enough to go to the dance. Though, I had to beg her to let me come, but on one condition. If I have any stress or over excitement the next few days, I'm back in the Hospital Wing," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Better keep Draco on a tight leash then," Charlie giggled.

"Don't I always," Hermione smirked and the girls broke out in laughter.

"Well, I have an announcement to give to all my girls," Annie smiled as she stood up. "Just a little while ago, Blaise asked me to marry him."

"OH MY GODS! Are you serious?! I can't believe it," Hermione gasped as she grabbed Annie's outstretched left hand. And sure enough, there was the 5-karat princess cut pink diamond engagement ring that Blaise had showed Draco earlier.

"When will the wedding be?" Pansy asked.

"We decided that it would be during summer."

"This is so exciting. But isn't that a bit soon. You're going to be so busy planning this aren't you?" Hermione said after a moment.

"Well, yeah, but I'm going to ask my mom to help. I mean, my parents have always adored Blaise and his family," Annie said smiling. She truly was happy. I love Blaise. I don't care about Dash. That was just a one time deal. He had told me he had been crushing on me forever, but he had a girlfriend and he wanted to see if he and I had a spark. But of course there wouldn't be a spark, I mean I love Blaise and he loves Ashley. Right? Annie smiled as she showed the ring to the rest of her friends.

Hermione ran over to Draco and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, scaring him.

"Dang, Hermione give me a heart attack," Draco mocked grasping the place on his chest where his heart would be.

"Did you hear about Blaise and Annie?" Hermione asked looking serious.

"Yeah, I kind of knew about it before it happened-"

"You knew and you didn't tell me, this is big," Hermione said playfully smacking his arm. "I mean, I can't believe that you would keep Blaise and Annie's engagement from me."

"What?!" Draco looked shocked for a moment, but then remembered the ring Blaise had showed him. "Oh! Yeah…well, I told Blaise I wouldn't tell anyone." I thought she was talking about that kiss.

"I'm just glad that they are getting together. They sure do make the perfect couple."

"Yeah, let's get on another subject. Looks like Heather is calling you for a girl's dance," Draco said pointing Hermione to Heather, who was waving her over.

"I'll be back later."

Hermione walked over to Heather and gave her a hug. "Come on Hermione. They're playing our song. Come on, let's show these boys the type of 'Girl All the Bad Guys Want'."

As the two girls walked onto the dance floor, the song Girl All the Bad Guys Want by Bowling for Soup came on the loud speakers. Hermione and Heather did turns and dips. They bounced and hopped around having a blast. When the song ended, the crowd applauded the girls' performance.

The rest of the night went by without a problem. Once the Great Hall was cleaned up and everyone was back in their common rooms, Draco and Hermione headed back to their commons. Hermione sat down on the couch and pulled off her heels, massaging her feet. Draco sat beside her and stared into the fire wondering what his father could want. After a few minutes Hermione was asleep. Draco picked her up and carried into their room.

Once he knew that Hermione was asleep, he removed the note from his pocket and unrolled it. He took a deep breath and read…

* * *

a/n: The two songs in this chapter are not mine.

Full props go to Rhianna for 'Unfaithful' and Cassie for 'Me & U'

Huge congrats to Pussycat Dolls for Don't Cha

Sammie~J


	16. Sympathy

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 16- Sympathy_

* * *

A slap in the face,  
And I can't erase,  
These things that you say,  
Don't make it all okay, it's not okay

When push comes to shove,  
I'll put on the gloves,  
Intentions are cruel,  
I ain't nobody's fool you know

It hurts, my pride, step aside,  
'Cause I don't need your...

Sympathy  
Won't get the best of me!  
Misery  
That's what you're giving me!  
Sympathy  
It's just like trickery!  
Breaking me down  
-Billy Talent

_Draco,_

_Next week, you are to receive the dark mark. Come to the forbidden forest and apparate to the ceremony. The ceremony will take place at ten. Be there or you will suffer the anger of our lord and the consequences of disobedience._

_Your father_

Draco looked up from the letter and looked at Hermione, she was sound asleep and looked like an angel. He sighed as he went to the desk in his room and took out a new piece of parchment, a quill, and an ink bottle. He dipped the quill into the ink and brought it over to the parchment to write. _What should I say? Should I tell him "no"? Should I tell him I'll be there?_ He bit his lower lip and noticed a spot of ink had formed on the parchment.

_Father,_

_I'll be there._

_Draco_

Draco called over his owl and told it to take the letter to his father. After Draco watched the owl fly off, he put the letter his father gave him away and slipped out of his dance clothes. He climbed into his bed and fell asleep once his head hit the pillow.

* * *

It was the following week. Draco woke up to the sound of birds outside. When he tried to sit up, he felt a tug on his arm. He opened his eyes and found Hermione was still lying next to him. Her back was pressed to his chest and she was still sleeping. He looked at her in shock, but then just shook his head. Usually she rolls to the other side during the night.

As he got up, he realized his arm was underneath Hermione's body. In order to remove it, he would have to wake her up. He tried to easily pull his arm away, but that only made her turn around and cuddle closer to him. He nudged her shoulder a bit, trying to move her off his arm, but no luck. I guess I gotta wake her. He shook her arm and she groaned.

"Hermione, wake up," he whispered. Nothing. He said it again, louder. Nothing. "Hermione." He snapped at her. Hermione woke up and looked around. She turned around and stared into Draco's icy blue eyes.

"What?" she groaned as she laid back on the pillow.

"I need my arm back." He said.

"Yeah, right. And what happened to my good morning kiss?" she smirked.

Draco rolled his eyes and gave her a peck on the lips. Hermione narrowed her eyes. "That was not a kiss. Do I need to refresh your memory?"

"Please do," he smirked.

Hermione placed her lips on his and kissed him deeply. He put his hands on her arms and slid them up and down. Hermione's hands went to his neck as his tongue entered her mouth. Only the need for air separated them. When Hermione looked down she started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Draco said in defense.

"Sweetie, go take a shower. A long…cold…shower," she said with a smile.

"Do you see what you do to me?" he said.

"Yes and if you don't go take a shower, so will everybody else in this school," she said as she got up out of the bed. Draco got up as well.

"Come with me," he offered.

"In your dreams," she smiled.

"I'm counting on that," he said as he walked into the bathroom. Hermione laughed as she walked to the wardrobe and changed into regular clothes. She pulled on her favorite pair of baby short denim shorts. And her 'rock child' tube top. She put her hair up in a ponytail and she slipped on a pair of flats. When she left her room, she found Draco sitting on the couch in a pair of denim jeans and a black t-shirt.

"How is it, that even when you take a longer shower than me, you get down here before I do?" she asked.

"I'm a guy, we do everything fast," he said as she took the seat next to him.

"Yeah, well I'm a girl and we multi-task. I can talk on the phone, work on the computer, do magic, do my homework and read at the same time."

"I can beat that."

"Oh really. Tell me what you can do at the same time."

"I can work out quidditch tactics, do homework, fix my hair, read, talk, and make a potion," he said with a smirk.

"Alright, well a potion doesn't count because it depends on the potion," Hermione smirked. "And it is impossible to talk, read, and do quidditch tactics at the same time."

"Not if you write the quidditch tactics."

"Then how do you stir the potion and do homework?" she smirked.

"You suck, you know that."

"Yes, but you love me."

"You bet." Draco stole her lips again in a heated kiss.

"So, we gonna go meet the others by the lake," Draco asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

Hermione got up from the couch and Draco followed her. They left the common room and went down to the lake by the old oak where the others were already sitting, well except Blaise and Annie. Hermione took a seat next to Heather, Ginny and Pansy. Harry, Ron, and Erik started talking to Draco about quidditch. Erik had been invited to come down by Ginny. And he of course got the 'hurt my baby sister and I'll torture you within in an inch of your life' from Ron. That definitely tuned the girls out and they in turn turned to their own conversation.

"So, what have you been up to since the dance?" Ginny asked with a smirk.

"No Gin, I am not going to tell you about Draco and I and I hope you can tell me the same about you and Erik," Hermione said in a serious tone.

"Um…well," Ginny smiled.

"GINNY!" Hermione screamed drawing the attention of the guys.

"Hermione, it's my life," Ginny said.

"You are only 16," she said. "Please tell me you were protected."

"Of course, I may be careless at some points, but I'm not stupid."

"My gods," Hermione groaned.

"May I ask what this is about?" Ron asked.

"NO!" the girls all said at the same time.

Ron turned back to the guys and they began their conversation again. You could see Erik had a slight blush on his cheeks. After a few minutes Blaise showed up, but no Annie. He joined the guys and he told them what happened. Draco in turn went over to Hermione and told her in her ear.

"WHAT?!" she gasped. Draco nodded. "I'm gonna kill her."

Hermione told the other girls and they all went up to the castle to talk to Annie.

They found her in the Slytherin Commons. She had tears in her eyes, a pillow clutched in her arms with her knees to her chest and was staring at her ring finger that once held Blaise's ring. The girls all walked over to her and took seats on the couches.

"You going to tell us what happened?" Hermione asked.

"Why should I? You already know," Annie snapped.

"True, but we want to hear your side of the story."

"Alright. Well, I was on my way to go talk to Draco about using his common room for the dance, when I was pulled into an empty classroom. When I turned to see who my capture was, I was shocked to see it was Dash. I mean, I used to have a crush on him, but it was weird. Anyway, before I could say anything, he pushed me against a wall and started ravaging my mouth."

"Did you try to stop him?" Pansy asked.

Annie shook her head. "No, I didn't. I liked it. I kissed him back and before I knew it, it was over and he was leading me out of the room and we were walking to the Great Hall. Then I saw Draco. He told Dash to get to the Great Hall and than he turned to me and scolded me for what I did. I never felt worse in all-"

"Wait! Draco knew about you and Dash?" Hermione gasped.

"Yeah."

"I gotta go ladies." Hermione exited the commons and went searching for Draco.

_

* * *

_

"So what happened?" Erik asked in confusion.

"When Annie and I were on our way here, she pulled me into an empty classroom. She told me to sit down, she had something to tell me. She said that I deserved someone better than her. That she was nothing, but a common girl to be passed from one guy to another. She was no better than the women at the bars. I told her she was way more than that and she told me she wasn't. She gave me back my ring and told me that before the dance she had had a make-out session with Dash Morton. I was really angry at her, but I was also hurt. I just got up and left."

"Why would she do something like that?" Harry asked.

"Who knows, she said that he was harboring feelings for her, but he had a girlfriend and he didn't know who he liked more. So, she said that if they kissed, they could figure it out. I don't know whether to believe her or not," he said.

Just then, Hermione came storming over to them and pulled Draco away from the others.

"WOAH! Babe, what did I do?" Draco gasped.

Hermione slapped him across the face. "You knew and you didn't tell me." She didn't even realize she was screaming.

"What are you talking about?" he asked as he massaged his cheek.

"You knew about Annie and Dash and you didn't tell me or Blaise."

"Look, I didn't know what to do. She asked me not to tell, so I didn't. Besides, it wasn't my problem. I wasn't going to get wrapped up into something that might ruin my friendship with Blaise. Besides it was Annie's problem and she had to figure it out." Draco took her hands in his and kissed them. "Forgive me," he pouted.

"Fine, but you're still in trouble."

Hermione walked off as Draco turned back to go back to the group, only to find Blaise walking toward him.

"Draco, can I talk to you for a second?"

Draco nodded. I am so dead. "What is it?" he asked.

"Did you get a letter?" he asked.

"You too?"

Blaise nodded. "Tonight. I can't believe it. Have you told Hermione?"

"Are you insane? I told her that I would never in a million years become a death eater. I told her I'd always be loyal to her and I would join the Order."

"Well, why don't we do both. Become Order members and Death Eaters. The dark lord will probably think it's a great idea."

"We'll have to confirm with McGonagall." Draco sighed as he looked out toward the forbidden forest.

The rest of the day, Draco and Blaise talked to McGonagall about their plans and she agreed. Draco and Blaise were to become Death Eaters and then once they graduated, they would become Order members. It was a quarter till nine at night by the time, the details had been finalized and Draco and Blaise were released from her office.

By the time Draco arrived at the Heads common room, it was a few hours until the ceremony. He walked into the room, noticing that Hermione wasn't there. He went up to his room and removed his robes, changing into a pair of black sweat pants and walking downstairs. That's when he noticed a small blue bundle on one of the sofas. He smiled as he looked down on Hermione's face as she slept. He picked her up and carried her to the foot of the staircase when she awoke.

"Wha-" she mumbled as she looked around.

"Bed time," Draco said as he started climbing the stairs.

"As long as I get to sleep cuddled next to you," she mumbled.

"Is cuddling going to become a habit with you?" he asked as he stared down at her.

"Maybe."

Draco rolled his eyes as he walked back up the stairs into their room. He laid her down on the bed and got in next to her. He put his arm around her and waited for her to fall asleep. She fell asleep not long a half hour after nine and he slowly crept out of bed as he made his way to his closet and got out a pair of black jeans, a black shirt, and his black robes. He got dressed quickly and tip-toed out of the room. He met with Blaise in the Entrance Hall at around a quarter till and they made their way to the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

Draco walked out to the apparition point and apparate to the Malfoy Manor. He and Blaise walked down to the underground cellar where they found over a hundred Death Eaters and the Dark Lord himself sitting in the middle.

"Welcome Draco and Blaise. Tonight you shall join the ranks of my army. And one day, we shall over take Hogwarts. Now, step forward to receive the dark mark," Voldemort said.

Draco came forward first and showed his left forearm. The dark lord pointed his wand to his arm and said the incantation. Draco felt pain coursing through his veins, but he didn't show it. Blaise was the same. Once the ceremony was over, Draco and Blaise apparated back to Hogwarts. They walked to the Entrance Hall and went their separate ways.

* * *

Draco walked up the stairs to his room. He kept looking at the dark mark that was etched on his left forearm. He sighed as he entered the Heads commons and went up to his room. He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed. He wrapped an arm around Hermione and moved closer to her. Hermione awoke and looked over at him. She cuddled closer to him and fell asleep instantly. When morning came, Hermione awoke with a yawn. She looked over her shoulder and saw Draco was still asleep. She kissed the tip of his nose and sat up. When she did, Draco's left arm that was wrapped around her fell back on the bed. Hermione saw something black on his arm and when she turned it over she screamed and jumped off the bed.

Draco immediately woke up when he heard her scream. "Hermione, what's wrong?"

"You lied to me!" she screamed.

"What-" then he looked down and saw the dark mark on his left forearm. _Damn, I was hoping that was a dream._

"Hermione, let me explain?" he begged.

"NO! You told me you would never get the dark mark. You said that you would stay loyal to me and never hurt me. You lied to me," she pulled off the ring he gave her. "Consider us over. I can't be here anymore," she said as tears sprang form her eyes and she ran from the room and from him.

* * *

A/n: this will be the last chapter, I might add an epilogue later on. I'm not sure. Stay tuned for the sequel Too Little, Too Late

All props go to Billy Talent for Sympathy.


	17. Epilogue Graduation

* * *

**_When Worlds Collide_**

_Chapter 17- Epilogue (Graduation)_

* * *

_And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives  
Where we're gonna be when we turn 25  
I keep thinking times will never change  
Keep on thinking things will always be the same  
But when we leave this year we won't be coming back  
No more hanging out cause we're on a different track  
And if you got something that you need to say  
You better say it right now cause you don't have another day  
Cause we're moving on and we can't slow down  
These memories are playing like a film without sound  
And I keep thinking of that night in June  
I didn't know much of love  
But it came too soon  
And there was me and you  
And then we got real cool  
Stay at home talking on the telephone with me  
We'd get so excited, we'd get so scared  
Laughing at our selves thinking life's not fair  
And this is how it feels  
-Vitamin C_

Hermione looked at the spot on her finger that once held Draco's ring. She sighed as she sat inside the Great Hall, looking over her speech. Today was her graduation day and it was her duty to give the graduation speech with Draco. All her classmates were most likely up stairs getting ready for the big day.

Hermione noticed Professor Flitwick was hanging decorations and making things perfect. After graduation, there was going to be a graduation ball. Like all the others, Hermione and Draco had to open the dance, but that didn't mean Hermione was giving him a chance to explain. Hermione felt someone sit next to her. She looked up to see Heather in an emerald spaghetti strap dress with silver heels with her robes hanging over her arm.

Heather and Harry were still dating. It amazed Hermione that a relationship like theirs actually existed. She wished her and Draco's were still like that.

"Hey Hermione. How's the speech going?" she asked.

"Good. I just hope Malfoy has his part of the speech," Hermione said. That was another thing. After that night, she had been referring to Draco as _Malfoy_.

"Well, are you ready for the big day? Graduation starts in an hour," Heather said as she got up from the bench.

"I hope so."

Just then Harry and Ron walked in. Harry gave Heather a kiss on the neck and wrapped his arms around her waist as he rested his head on her shoulder. Ron gave Hermione a hug and kissed her on the cheek.

"So are you ready to give your big speech?" he said with a smile.

"I think so. I'm just glad you guys are all here."

"Well, then let's get our butts out there, so we can get into our seats and listen to our Hermione give her kick ass speech," Harry smirked.

The others laughed as they followed him out of the room. Heather handed Hermione a set of robes. Hermione was dressed in purple dress that had a silver shimmer cover over it. It only came to mid-thigh. This was the dress that her cousin had sent her magically transformed for yet another occasion. Hermione put on her robes and hat. She checked her hair and make-up in Heather's pocket mirror before they left to go outside by the lake, where the ceremony would be held.

Draco, Blaise and Pansy were already out there. Ron went over and gave Pansy a kiss. The two groups stared at each other for a few moments in silence. An awkward silence hung over the group.

"Where's Annie?" Ron asked.

"I don't know and I don't care," Blaise snapped.

"Whoa. She made a mistake, cut her some slack Zabini," Hermione snapped.

"You want to talk about slack Granger. What about you not giving a damn about Draco?" he snapped, his eyebrows drew together and you could see his hand reaching for his wand in his back pocket.

"Excuse me! Draco betrayed me. He lost my trust the second he left my side that night. I forgive him for what he did, cause he had a good reason, protecting his family. But that doesn't mean I'm going to run back into his arms and pretend nothing happened. Unlike you Zabini. You won't forgive Annie. She made a mistake. What do you expect? She is the most sought after girl at Hogwarts. Like you and Draco are the most sought after guys. She loves you. So she kissed another guy, how many girls have you kissed Zabini. At the beginning of your relationship, you kissed dozens of girls because all you thought of Annie was a free shag," Hermione yelled the last part.

"How do you know that?"

"She told me. Annie said she found you with a lot of girls. But she loved you, so she didn't care. If you love her, then you will forgive her for what she did," Hermione snapped.

Just then Annie came sprinting up with a smile on her face. "Guess what guys? I just got an owl from my dad and he said that he has tickets for the upcoming Weird Sisters concert. He only has eight tickets. So it's him, me, my twin little sisters and my little brother plus three friends of my choosing."

"Awesome Annie," Heather said.

"Yeah, so I want you girls to come. Please, it would mean the world to me," she said putting her hands together.

"Of course, we'll come. Annie, your our friend, we would never ditch you," Hermione said.

"Miss. Granger, will you please come with me," Professor McGonagall said. "You too Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione bid her friends good-bye before following McGonagall after Draco. McGonagall took them up to the stage, which held seat for the staff and heads. "You two will sit up here. I will give my speech, then the student board president will give his, then you two will have yours."

The two nodded. The ceremony started twenty minutes later and all the seats were filled with students, parents, siblings, and other family members. The speeches went by quickly. Hermione was starting to get nervous. She couldn't believe this was the last day of the time she would be at Hogwarts. When Professor McGonagall stepped up to the podium and announced that the Heads were to give their speeches, Hermione practically froze. She made her way slowly to the podium with Draco right beside her.

"Hey everybody. Well, where to begin. We have each experienced our own adventures through the seven years we have spent at this school. All these years, we have been making friends, losing friends, making enemies, making relationships, we have all had our own lives. I know I spent my better years studying and always keeping my eyes on a book and basically being a teacher's pet. This year, so much has changed. I found someone, who taught me, that there was more to life than books. So, I'll say one last thing, even though a war is drawing closer, don't lose the ones you love. Don't worry about those lost and the attacks, just keep the ones you love close, because you never know when you'll see them again. Well, I'll let the Head Boy take over," Hermione smiled. "Thank you."

"What's up Hogwarts? Here we all are on our last day of school, NEWTs are over and all I can think about is '_When the hell do I get out of here?_' Anyway, school here has been fun. Yes, I was a bully and I basically hated every Gryffindor. I still sometimes wonder how the hell I became friends with four Gryffindors. Maybe a potion or something. Anyway, all I can say is today is our last day here, so let's make the most of it. Have fun. And try not to kill each other," Draco smirked as the crowd laughed.

The rest of the ceremony went by without problems. They all received their diplomas At the end of the ceremony, Professor McGonagall stood up in front of everyone.

"Now, I would like to ask Miss. Hermione Granger to come forward," the crowd stared at Hermione as she walked to the front. Each one wondering what was going to happen.

_I've heard it said  
That people come into our lives for a reason  
Bringing something we must learn  
And we are led  
To those who help us most to grow  
If we let them  
And we help them in return  
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true  
But I know I'm who I am today  
Because I knew you..._

_Like a comet pulled from orbit  
As it passes a sun  
Like a stream that meets a boulder  
Halfway through the wood  
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?  
But because I knew you  
I have been changed for good_

The crowd was silent as Hermione sang. Hermione had begged McGonagall to let her sing a song for graduation and was so happy when she said yes. No matter where any of them went, no matter what paths they chose, they will still be friends forever.

_

* * *

_

The four girls were in the Heads Commons getting ready for the Graduation Ball that night.

"I just think it sucks that me and Heather are the only girls going with guys to this dance. I mean, I don't want to leave you girls hanging," Pansy moaned.

"Don't worry about us. I have to dance with Draco in the beginning, then I'll just talk with Ginny," Hermione said.

"As for me, I'm just going to go to the dance. I mean, it was my fault for what happened. I loved Blaise and I just kicked him aside like last year's prada heels. I can't expect him to come back for me," Annie mumbled.

"Wow, that's deep Ann," Heather smiled.

"I mean I love Blaise, but if you love the guy and the guy doesn't love you back, you can't expect to get him. I mean, I know I can get any guy I want, but I don't want just any guy, I want Blaise."

"Let's get ready girls before Annie goes to tears," Hermione said quickly.

* * *

"So, who are you guys going with now?" Ron asked.

"No one. I refuse to go with anyone else than Hermione," Draco said.

"Does that include Lavender? Awww…she'll be so upset," Draco just scowled.

"As for me, I'm going with Daphne. It's Annie's fault for what happened between us. She cheated on me. So why should I mope around waiting for her," Blaise snapped.

"Dang boy, you bounce back fast, especially since you were just engaged," Harry gasped.

The sound of clicking heels brought them out of their conversation. Four gorgeous ladies were standing in front of them.

Pansy wore a knee length strapless dress. It was a two toned dress in both pink and dress was tight until I reached her hips, from there it flowed out. There was a small broche in the middle of her dress, just below her bust line.

Heather wore a short red baby doll dress with a black tie at the waist. It had black spaghetti straps and an outline of a floral print. It came with a black wrap as well. The dress flowed from the empire waist and made Heather look like a red angel.

Hermione wore a short halter top dress with a net over lay and embroidery. The dress was a blue/purple color that made her look amazing. Draco silently cursed himself for being so stupid.

Annie wore a bubblegum pink dress that ended just an inch before her knees. It was strapless dress with a black bust lining. The skirt flowed down and made her look gorgeous. The dress complimented her figure and it made Blaise's mouth go dry.

"Hello ladies. Don't you all look gorgeous," Ron smiled giving Pansy a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you," the ladies smiled.

Blaise stared at Annie with wide-eyes. He hadn't expected her to come after what happened. She looked gorgeous in her dress and all he wanted was for her to be with him.

"Blaise, I-" Annie started.

"BLAISE!" Two slender arms caught Blaise off guard as they wrapped around his neck. He turned around and saw Daphne standing there. She wore a shimmering purple short dress that went to her knees. It featured a low cut rhinestone accented bodice and pleated skirt_._

Annie stared in shock as she watched Daphne give Blaise a kiss on the lips. _Looks like he's over you. You should have seen it coming. You cheated on him first._ She shook her head trying to stop the tears from falling. Daphne turned and saw Annie standing there.

"What are you doing here?" she scowled.

"I'm allowed to be here if I want," Annie said.

"Whatever. Just know you and Blaise are over."

"Why don't you keep your mouth shut, Greengrass?" Hermione snapped.

"You know nothing about me or Blaise," Annie snapped.

"Oh really. Look at you. Walking in here like a common slut. You prance around these halls thinking you're such hot stuff. You will basically go to bed with any guy," Daphne snapped.

"That's not true," Annie mumbled.

"Then what is true Maryland?" she yelled.

"I loved him. No, let me rephrase that I love him. I was a jerk before I met Blaise. Yes, I did go around with a lot of men. But I never slept with one. In fact, I still have my virginity. Go ahead and ask any guy I've ever dated. Sure, they will say that they have knocked up the prettiest girl at Hogwarts, but it's all a lie. I'm still a virgin. I never wanted to lose that to someone who didn't care for me. And the one guy that did care for me, I lost. Alright, that's the truth. So, why don't you go in there with your date and leave me the hell alone?"

Annie ran from her then and stomped into the nearest classroom and slammed the door. Hermione, Pansy and Heather followed.

"Annie, are you okay?" Hermione asked.

"No, she had no right to say any of that. I may be pretty and sometimes stupid, but I'm not stupid enough to just throw my body away to any guy that wants it. I mean, the farthest Blaise and I have ever gotten, the farthest I have gotten with any guy is just kissing," Annie cried.

"Hey, no crying. You'll ruin your make-up. Now come on. We're going to go to this dance together. We'll hang out most of the time. Now, get your cute butt up and let's go have fun. And if Daphne gives you any more trouble I'll sock her," Heather grinned like a Cheshire cat.

The girls walked out of the room.

_

* * *

_

Once the girls were in the room and out of hearing range, Blaise turned on Daphne.

"What the hell was that about?" he growled.

"What?" she played innocent.

"Don't play dumb. Why the hell did you gang up on Annie? She hasn't done anything to you. You go around telling people she's a common slut, when it's you who's selling her body around. Why don't you back off of her and leave her alone."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you still loved her," Daphne said.

"Well, I…I…" Just then the girls walked out of the room. "Yes, I suppose I do. That's right. I still love Annie. I don't care what she did. After all, I did the same thing to her in the beginning. I went around kissing other girls because I only thought of her as a shag. And she's forgiven me for everything I've ever done to hurt her. So, she made a mistake. I love her, no matter what."

"What?" a voice whispered behind him.

He turned to she Annie staring right at him. Her mascara was running down her cheeks. Her face was flushed and her eyes were a bit pink. But in his mind, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

"Just what I said, I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she whispered.

Blaise kissed her on the lips, showing how much he had missed her. He poured every ounce of emotion he had felt into that one kiss. He loved her. He did. He was never going to let her go. They finally broke apart and stared at one another.

"I'm sorry," they both whispered at the same time.

Someone tapped Blaise on the shoulder. Blaise turned to see Daphne still standing there. "Um…hello. Blaise did you forget who your date is?" she snapped impatiently tapping her foot.

"It's okay Blaise. She is your date. I don't mind," Annie said with a small smile before kissing his cheek.

The rest of the night went by perfectly, well as perfect as you can hope. Annie had a great time just talking with Hermione. She got asked to dance a few times, but she declined. Hermione had to open up the dance with Draco and she felt like she was going to cry. She felt safe in his arms, she had to keep saying to herself _he cheated on me, he hurt me over and over again_.

Heather had a wonderful time. She loved being there and she loved how everything seemed to make the night beautiful. Pansy felt like a princess on the dance floor. That's what she loved about Ron. None of them wanted to think about tomorrow. How everybody would be leaving and going their separate ways.

_

* * *

_

"Hermione, must you go so soon?" Annie asked.

"Yeah, Hermione. It's six in the morning," Heather sighed. She had just woken up and was trying desperately to stay awake. Plus the cup of coffee that she had a house-elf bring up was just barely keeping her up.

"I'm sorry guys, but I must be going. I don't want to be here when Draco comes down," Hermione mumbled. "It'll just be too hard. After all, we ended things and I know if I see him, I won't be able to control what I do. I'll miss you guys so much." She gave parting hugs to Heather, Annie and Pansy. She had given hugs to Harry and Ron the night before, telling them of her plans. They weren't very happy about the fact that she was leaving, but they couldn't do much about it.

Hermione had already shrunk her truck and Heather was going to take care of Crookshanks until the end of the year before sending her over to Hermione's home.

Quickly giving last minute hugs, Hermione threw green powder into the fireplace. "Good-bye guys." And just like that, she was gone.

_

* * *

_

_A/N: I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_Props go to Vitamin C for 'Graduation' and the Broadway musical Wicked for the song 'For Good'._

_Sammie~J_


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